Scientists Call for New Lunar Time Zone Amid Growing Number of Missions to the Moon

Scientists Call for New Lunar Time Zone, Amid Growing Number , of Missions to the Moon .

Fox News reports that the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to give the moon its own time zone.

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According to Pietro Giordano, a navigation system engineer for the ESA, scientists want to find a "common lunar reference time" to keep track of time when on the moon.

A joint international effort is now being launched towards achieving this, Pietro Giordano, navigation system engineer for the ESA, via Fox News.

The news comes as private companies and nations have plans to travel to the moon.

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Fox News reports the idea of creating a new lunar time zone was first introduced during a meeting in the Netherlands in 2022.

Currently, astronauts use the time of the nation operating the mission while in space or around the moon.

As the number of lunar missions grows, scientists are searching for a more efficient way of accurately recording and communicating time.

Fox News reports that NASA faced a similar decision when construction of the International Space Station began over twenty years ago.

Rather than determining a unique time zone for the ISS, scientists use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) based on atomic clocks.

Fox News reports that UTC takes into account the difference between NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and other space programs in Japan, Europe and Russia.

Fox News reports that UTC takes into account the difference between NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and other space programs in Japan, Europe and Russia