The US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) directed the US space agency to set up a moon-centric time reference system that accounts for its differing gravitational forces.

In a memo on Tuesday, OSTP chief Arati Prabhakar noted that Earth-based clocks would appear to lose 58.7 microseconds per Earth-day as a result of these factors.

Nasa has until 2026 to set up a unified time standard, which Ms Prabhakar referred to as Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC). It will then be used by astronauts, spacecraft and satellites that require highly accurate timekeeping.

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[–] postmateDumbass 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

So atomic decay is dependant on gravity?

[–] cynar 6 points 7 months ago

Atomic clocks don't use atomic decay. They used the frequency of the light emitted by a very specific energy change, within an atom, under very controlled conditions.

The frequency of light will look the same on the moon. However, an observer on earth would see a very slightly different frequency from the moon clock.

[–] mangaskahn 6 points 7 months ago

The way I understand it is that time itself is altered by gravity and/or velocity. So atomic decay that occurs on a very specific cadence in each reference frame will not occur simultaneously in 2 or more different reference frames that are not in the same gravity, moving at the same velocity. There's even a measurable though very small difference in the passage of time between sea level and high mountains due to the difference in gravity. I'm leaving a lot out and there's a bunch of math involved, but i think that's mostly correct.