Europe in a mission to define time on moon

The European Space Agency (ESA) is leading an effort to establish a common time zone for the moon as lunar missions increase.

At present, moon missions are run on the time of the country operating the spacecraft. An internationally accepted lunar time zone would facilitate lunar missions for all, especially with more countries and private companies aiming for the moon and NASA set to send astronauts there.

NASA is approaching the 25th anniversary of the launch of the International Space Station, which is run on Coordinated Universal Time.

While a single organisation is being considered to set and maintain moon time, there are technical issues, including the fact that clocks run faster on the moon than on Earth and that each day on the moon lasts as long as 29.5 Earth days.

Establishing a working time system for the moon would help pave the way for future missions to other planets.