Celestial Time Standardization Act
The Celestial Time Standardization Act would require the NASA Administrator, with policy coordination from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, to develop a formal celestial time standardization to support future operations and infrastructure on the Moon and around other celestial bodies beyond Earth. The bill frames this as a leadership and interoperability effort, noting current UTC usage has challenges off Earth due to relativistic effects, and it calls for creating a coordinated lunar time that is traceable to UTC, accurate enough for navigation and science, resilient to loss of Earth contact, and scalable to broader space environments. NASA would also be required to develop a strategy for implementing this lunar time and to coordinate with federal agencies, private sector, academia, and international standards bodies. A briefing to Congress on the strategy is due within two years of enactment.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a sense of Congress that the United States should lead in time standardization for lunar and off-Earth operations to support science, exploration, commercial activity, and international partnerships.
- 2Directs NASA to study and define a coordinated lunar time and to develop a practical strategy to implement it for future Moon operations and infrastructure.
- 3Requires interagency and cross-sector collaboration, including consultation with the Department of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation, as well as private sector, academia, and international standards bodies and partners.
- 4Specifies features to guide the development of lunar time (as practicable): traceability to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), sufficient accuracy for navigation and science, resilience to loss of Earth contact, and scalability to environments beyond the Earth–Moon system.
- 5Mandates a briefing to the House Science Committee and the Senate Commerce/Science & Transportation Committee within two years after enactment detailing the strategy, plans, timelines, and required resources.