"NASA's Mission: Developing a Lunar Time Standard for the Moon"

The White House has tasked NASA with creating a moon-centric time reference system, called Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), by the end of 2026 to account for the differences in time due to the moon's lower gravity. This system will be crucial for lunar spacecraft and satellites that require extreme precision for their missions. The development of LTC may require placing atomic clocks on the moon and will involve international agreements through existing standards bodies and the Artemis accords. This initiative aims to ensure secure data transfers between spacecraft and synchronized communications among Earth, lunar satellites, bases, and astronauts.