What time is it on the Moon?: If we synchronized two clocks on Earth and one were sent to the Moon, there would be a difference of 56 microseconds per day

Human beings have studied their natural satellite extensively. The Moon represents one of Earth’s great allies and, for decades, has been the subject of study and analysis, aided by an initial exploration on its surface that was followed by many and varied space missions. However, a question that is rarely asked is: what time is it on the Moon relative to the time zone in which one lives?

During the past 28th General Conference on Weights and Measures, the member States unified criteria and explored ways to adopt an international “lunar reference time scale.”

From UTC to LTC

This is where the so-called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) comes into play, which is the official time scale used on Earth to measure the passage of the hours and which is used by mobile phones, computers, and other devices. However, this tool cannot be used on the Moon, since time passes more quickly there.

According to Albert Einstein and his general theory of relativity, time on our satellite is slightly different from that on our planet. In fact, experts point out that, if two clocks were synchronized on Earth and one of them were sent to the Moon, they would end up with a difference of about 56 microseconds per day elapsed.

Although it may seem like a small figure, the truth is that precision is very important in aspects such as landing probes on the Moon accurately, or helping explorers and astronauts orient themselves. “The need for navigation accuracy on the order of meters on the Moon translates into temporal accuracy on the order of nanoseconds,” says Joel Parker, the project lead at NASA. This is why the goal is to use navigation satellites in lunar orbit and adopt Coordinated Lunar Time (TLC) for calculations.