https://apnews.com/article/moon-time-zone-space-2b0124415c14755e08a58e1b5ed5362a Comscore beacon AP NEWS Email:[Get AP News stories ]Go Listen Sections * U.S. News * World News * Politics * Sports * Entertainment * Business * Technology * Health * Science * Oddities * Lifestyle * Photography * Videos Listen Sections 1. AP Top News 2. U.S. News 3. World NewsRussia-Ukraine warAfricaAsia PacificAustraliaEurope Latin AmericaMiddle East 4. PoliticsPresident BidenElection coverageCongressSupreme Court 5. SportsNBANFLNHLMLBTennis 6. EntertainmentFilm reviewsMoviesMusicTelevisionFashion 7. BusinessU.S. economyFinancial markets ----------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Videos 9. Technology 10. HealthCOVID-19 11. MoreAP InvestigationsClimate and environmentOdditiesPhotography TravelScienceAP Fact CheckLifestyleReligionPress Releases * Wayne Shorter dies * Tim Norman sentencing * Lufthansa turbulence * Pyramid find * Dr. Seuss Day [ ]Search [https://apnews.com/a] Click to copy [https://apnews.com/a] Click to copy Related topics * Science * Oddities * Aerospace technology * AP Top News * Europe * Netherlands What time is it on moon? Europe pushing for lunar time zone By MARCIA DUNNFebruary 28, 2023 GMT FILE - The moon rises beyond a sign in the outfield during the fifth inning of a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. With more lunar missions than ever on the horizon, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone. In February 2023, the agency said space organizations around the world are considering how best to keep time on the moon. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) FILE - The moon rises beyond a sign in the outfield during the fifth inning of a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. With more lunar missions than ever on the horizon, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone. In February 2023, the agency said space organizations around the world are considering how best to keep time on the moon. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- With more lunar missions than ever on the horizon, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone. This week, the agency said space organizations around the world are considering how best to keep time on the moon. The idea came up during a meeting in the Netherlands late last year, with participants agreeing on the urgent need to establish "a common lunar reference time," said the space agency's Pietro Giordano, a navigation system engineer. "A joint international effort is now being launched towards achieving this," Giordano said in a statement. For now, a moon mission runs on the time of the country that is operating the spacecraft. European space officials said an internationally accepted lunar time zone would make it easier for everyone, especially as more countries and even private companies aim for the moon and NASA gets set to send astronauts there. ADVERTISEMENT NASA had to grapple with the time question while designing and building the International Space Station, fast approaching the 25th anniversary of the launch of its first piece. While the space station doesn't have its own time zone, it runs on Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC, which is meticulously based on atomic clocks. That helps to split the time difference between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency, and the other partnering space programs in Russia, Japan and Europe. Science SpaceX launches US, Russia, UAE astronauts to space station Carbon dioxide emissions reached a record high in 2022 Did dioxins spread after the Ohio train derailment? Fukushima plant head: Too early to predict decommissioning The international team looking into lunar time is debating whether a single organization should set and maintain time on the moon, according to the European Space Agency. There are also technical issues to consider. Clocks run faster on the moon than on Earth, gaining about 56 microseconds each day, the space agency said. Further complicating matters, ticking occurs differently on the lunar surface than in lunar orbit. Perhaps most importantly, lunar time will have to be practical for astronauts there, noted the space agency's Bernhard Hufenbach. NASA is shooting for its first flight to the moon with astronauts in more than a half-century in 2024, with a lunar landing as early as 2025. "This will be quite a challenge" with each day lasting as long as 29.5 Earth days, Hufenbach said in a statement. "But having established a working time system for the moon, we can go on to do the same for other planetary destinations." Mars Standard Time, anyone? ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. AP NEWS 1. Top Stories 2. Video 3. Contact Us 4. Accessibility Statement 5. Cookie Settings Download AP NEWS Connect with the definitive source for global and local news More from AP 1. ap.org 2. AP Insights 3. AP Definitive Source Blog 4. AP Images Spotlight 5. AP Explore 6. AP Books 7. AP Stylebook Follow AP 1. 2. 3. 4. The Associated Press 1. About 2. Contact 3. Customer Support 4. Careers 5. Terms & Conditions 6. Privacy All contents (c) copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.