The moon to get it’s own time zone
With more lunar missions than ever on the horizon, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone
READING LEVEL: GREEN
With more lunar missions* than ever on the horizon*, the European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone.
The agency this week said space organisations around the world were 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,” Mr Giordano said.
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 aimed for the moon and NASA prepared to again send astronauts there.
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 co-ordinated 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.
The European Space Agency said the international team looking into lunar time was debating whether a single organisation should set and maintain time on the moon.
There were also technical issues to consider, including the fact clocks run faster on the moon than on Earth, gaining about 56 microseconds each day.
Further complicating matters, ticking occurs differently on the lunar surface* than in lunar orbit*.
Perhaps most importantly, lunar time would have to be practical for astronauts there, noted the space agency’s Bernhard Hufenbach.
NASA aims to launch its first flight to the moon with astronauts in more than a half-century in 2024, with a lunar landing as early as 2025.
Mr Hufenbach said “this will be quite a challenge”, with each day on the moon lasting as long as 29.5 Earth days.
“But having established a working time system for the moon, we can go on to do the same for other planetary destinations,” Mr Hufenbach said.
Mars Standard Time, anyone?
GLOSSARY
- lunar missions: spacecraft missions that have been sent to the Moon to explore the lunar surface and determine the Moon’s origin
- on the horizon: imminent, something that is set to happen in the future
- reference: a source of information
- grapple: to try to deal with or understand a difficult problem or subject
- atomic clock: the most accurate type of timepiece in the world, designed to measure time according to vibrations within atoms
- lunar surface: surface of the moon
- lunar orbit: the movement of an object around the moon
EXTRA READING
Jupiter’s record-breaking 92 moons
Rare blood moon to appear in Australian sky
QUICK QUIZ
- Why does the European Space Agency want to give the moon its own time?
- Moon missions currently run on the time of which country?
- What anniversary is the International Space Agency going to celebrate soon?
- How much faster do clocks run on the moon compared to earth?
- Each day on the moon equates to how many earth days?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. A waste of time?
“Creating a time zone for the moon is a waste of time and money!” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Use information from the story to write a list of very convincing points and facts that back up your opinion.
Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science
2. Extension
Why do you think clocks run faster on the moon than on Earth? Think about this question and write your answer.
Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science
VCOP ACTIVITY
Creative vocabulary
Find a bland sentence from the article to up-level. Can you add more detail and description? Can you replace any ‘said’ words with more specific synonyms?
Have you outdone yourself and used some really great vocabulary throughout your writing? Firstly, well done. Secondly, let’s ensure everyone can understand it by adding a glossary of terms. Pick three of your wow words and create a glossary for each word to explain what it means.