For spacecraft and satellites reliant on precise timing for their missions, the Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC, would offer a standard for timekeeping.
Because of the difference in gravitational force, time is perceived differently on the moon than it is on Earth, making the establishment of a standard lunar time crucial – and challenging.
In an interview, NASA’s chief of space communications and navigation Kevin Coggins stated, “The same clock that we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the moon.”
The chairman of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) stated in a memo that an Earth-based clock would appear to lose on average 58.7 microseconds each Earth-day to a person on the moon.
Arati Prabhakar continued, “More periodic variations would further drift moon time from Earth time.”
