Timekeeping on the Moon

In addition to maintaining the clock cycle, computer timekeeping allowed the AGC to display the capsule's vertical and horizontal movements relative to the Moon's surface, in units of feet per second.

[3] In early April 2024, the White House asked NASA to work alongside US and international agencies for the purpose of establishing a unified standard time for the Moon and other celestial bodies by 2026.

[4] The White House's request, led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), called for a "Coordinated Lunar Time", which was first proposed by the European Space Agency in early 2023.

[7] With renewed international interest in human travel to the moon, reminiscent of the space race, especially in the United States and China,[8][9] a need exists for a universal time-keeping benchmark so that lunar spacecraft and satellites are able to fulfill their respective missions with precision and accuracy.

[10][11] Due to differences in gravitational force and other factors, time passes fractionally faster on the Moon when observed from Earth.