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NASA wants to come up with a new clock for the moon, where seconds tick away faster

By SETH BORENSTEIN - Apr 02, 2024, 06:01 PM ET
Last Updated - Apr 02, 2024, 06:01 PM EDT
Moon Time
FILE - The moon rises behind the Home Place clock tower in Prattville, Ala., Saturday, June 22, 2013. NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock. The White House on Tuesday, April 2, 2204, told NASA to work with other agencies abroad to come up with a new moon-centric time reference system. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)

NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock

WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA wants to come up with an out-of-this-world way to keep track of time, putting the moon on its own souped-up clock.

It's not quite a time zone like those on Earth, but an entire frame of time reference for the moon. Because there's less gravity on the moon, time there moves a tad quicker — 58.7 microseconds every day — compared to Earth. So the White House Tuesday instructed NASA and other U.S agencies to work with international agencies to come up with a new moon-centric time reference system.

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“An atomic clock on the moon will tick at a different rate than a clock on Earth,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA's top communications and navigation official. “It makes sense that when you go to another body, like the moon or Mars that each one gets its own heartbeat.”

So everything on the moon will operate on the speeded-up moon time, Coggins said.

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