Coordinated Lunar Time en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Coined by NASA on 2 April 2024.
Meanings
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(neologism) A new lunar time zone standard that the White House has directed NASA to establish by 2026.
The United States wants the moon to have a time zone. Along with Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific times, we could have Coordinated Lunar Time. The moon's gravity means a super-precise atomic clock would run ever so slightly faster than on Earth. Over years, that difference would grow, complicating calculations between spacecraft and a lunar base.
2024 April 4, “Coordinated Lunar Time: The U.S. wants the moon to have its own time zone”, in Morning Edition, spoken by Steve Inskeep, via NPR:Nasa has until the end of 2026 to set up what is being called Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).
2024 April 2, Diana Ramirez-Simon, “Moon Standard Time? Nasa to create lunar-centric time reference system”, in The Guardian^(https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/02/moon-nasa-coordinated-lunar-time#:~:text=Nasa%20has%20until%20the%20end,Coordinated%20Lunar%20Time%20(LTC).&text=It's%20not%20quite%20a%20time,time%20reference%20for%20the%20moon):First, the new Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) needs to be translatable into Coordinated Universal Time (UTC); it needs to be accurate enough for precision space navigation and communication;
2025 May 5, John Loeffler, “What time is it on the moon? US House space committee wants a standard lunar clock”, in Space.com, archived from the original on 13 May 2025: