Moon clock: An international group of astronomers has agreed that one should be created.

Lunar time is passing a little faster. Now, an international group of astronomers has joined the call. give to the moon Its own clock so that future space missions can monitor the minutes it spends on the celestial body.

The International Astronomical Union voted Thursday to encourage space organizations around the world to collaborate on a lunar timing standard, as A day lasts 29.5 Earth days.

“That’s the essence of our decision: to work together to set this record time,” Susan Stewart of the U.S. Naval Observatory said at the group’s conference this week in Cape Town, South Africa. Stewart helped propose the resolution.

The Moon has less gravity than Earth, so time passes 58.7 microseconds faster each day. As more countries and companies set their sights on future lunar missions, astronomers want to ensure perfect synchronization with the Moon. uniform clockCurrently, a lunar mission operates on the time of the country operating the spacecraft.

Navigation and positioning on the moon It could lead to more precise landings and more efficient exploration of lunar resources.Without this “lunar GPS,” landing and operating on the Moon would be like trying to navigate on Earth without any GPS: you would only have a rough idea of ​​where you are, making it very difficult to perform complex operations or travel long distances accurately.

Last year, the European Space Agency promoted the creation of a lunar clock. Earlier this year, the White House ordered NASA and other agencies to work on an idea by the end of the year and a final plan by the end of 2026.

According to Bijnath Patla, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, astronomers are still in the early days of figuring out exactly how to determine lunar time. “I think the community has realized that this needs to be done,” Patla said. “This is the beginning.”

The first stage of the powerful SLS rocket that will be used in NASA Artemis II Lunar Mission On July 24, it completed its entry into the assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (USA), where it will be integrated with the Orion capsule that will carry four crew members on a ten-day mission. It is scheduled to take off in September 2025. And it will orbit the moon but without descending.

The rocket, the largest ever built by NASA and powered by four powerful RS-25 engines, also has two massive tanks that together hold more than 2,774,706 liters of super-cooled liquid propellant.

NASA’s Artemis program represents a new chapter in space exploration and aims to achieve this. Laying the foundations for a permanent human presence on the Moon.

Artemis I, an unmanned test flight of the Orion spacecraft, successfully completed a round-trip flight in 2022. After Artemis II NASA plans to launch what will be the first manned mission to reach the moon’s surface in more than 50 years, Artemis 3, in September 2026.

(With information from AP and EFE)