What time is it actually on the moon?
Right now there aren't any.
However, that is about to change.
Scientists are currently discussing a solution.
New York - A coffee date at 3:30 p.m. at Lunar Base 32, which is on the moon.
Such a meeting could not take place at the moment.
Not only because no coffee is currently being served on the earth satellite and there is no base 32.
But above all because there is no official moon time.
However, various expeditions and the colonization of the celestial body in the coming decade will depend on a common time in order to be able to orientate oneself and cooperate better.
Space organizations are therefore faced with a considerable challenge.
The time on the moon: solution to the problem must be found
According to an article in the journal Nature
, scientists around the world are discussing
how the clocks on the moon should tick in the future.
International researchers therefore met in November in the Netherlands to exchange solutions to the topic.
They must come to an agreement in the coming years to prevent time chaos on the moon.
So far, moon expeditions have been based on the coordinated world time UTC, but have not been synchronized with each other.
With a previously manageable number of spaceships and missions on and around the moon, this did not pose a major problem. With the planned construction of permanent bases on the satellite, which will lead to a significant increase in people and vehicles there, a new one is needed Approach.
The time on the moon: Positioning on the celestial body requires accurate time information
Scientists like Jörg Hahn, an expert at the European Space Agency ESA, therefore see the need for a common moon time in order to make cooperation and communication possible: "All of this has to be traced back to a kind of time reference, otherwise chaos reigns and things don't fit together," says Rooster to
Nature
.
This is particularly important in order to be able to determine positions on the moon using a GPS-like technology.
The coordinates of a person or a vehicle are displayed in conjunction with three satellites.
The time it takes for the signals from each of the satellites to reach that point gives the position.
However, the basic prerequisite for this is a universally valid time.
The time on the moon: Atomic clocks could synchronize universal and lunar time
On the moon, however, there are a few pitfalls: First of all, according to the theory of relativity, the clocks tick a little faster there.
Because the moon has a weaker gravitational field than Earth, NASA scientist Cheryl Gramling estimates that time there runs 56 microseconds - 56 millionths of a second - faster per 24 hours.
What sounds like a negligible difference can make a world of difference when it comes to location determination and communication.
On this basis, there are several ways to determine the new moon time: The time measured by several atomic clocks on the celestial body could be adjusted to the coordinated universal time at regular intervals, so that the earth and moon are synchronized.
It would also be possible to let the slightly faster running time on the moon continue independently and to show the growing difference to coordinated universal time.
(dpa)
