The moon should have its own time zone, according to European space officials. According to ESA, the project is a component of a bigger one to build a comprehensive navigation and communication system for the moon. According to space officials, an increasing number of planned moon launches in the upcoming years will require the use of such a system. Spacecraft and controllers will need “to communicate together and fix their positions independently from Earth” for a sequence of space operations around the moon, according to a statement from ESA. At the moment, moon operations follow the national time zone of the spacecraft’s launch.
ESA and NASA, the US space agency, are working together on multiple future lunar initiatives, or missions. NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which ESA assisted in building, is scheduled to return American astronauts to the moon by the middle of the 2020s. Late last year, NASA stated that it was happy with Orion’s final unmanned test flight. Additionally, ESA has been involved in the planning and development processes for the Gateway lunar mission. As part of the Gateway project, private companies have been asked to design habitats—living areas—for NASA and ESA.
According to NASA, Gateway is a tiny spacecraft that will stay in a lunar orbit. It would be built to serve as both an astronaut residence and a scientific laboratory. The astronauts would have a base via Gateway to enable future expeditions to Mars and the moon. Pietro Giordano works at ESA as a navigation system engineer. He said after the topic was considered at the previous ESA meeting, “a joint international effort is now being launched” to establish a lunar time zone.
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