this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
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I suspect that won't help. The reason the Moon needs a time zone is because of gravitational time dilation, time literally runs slower down here on Earth's surface relative to the Moon's surface. A computer on the Moon gains an extra 58.7 microseconds each Earth day, so if you're programming something that'll be running on Lunar time you'll need to account for that.
The point of the lunar time zone is not to have a specific UTC offset like other timezones. The moon would have its own set of atomic clocks, and time could be coordinated with earth based on ratio instead of offset.
They're not going to be maintaining literal atomic clocks on the Moon for this. They'll apply a mathematical adjustment to UTC based on what the physics calculations say is happening. The details of that adjustment are what NASA has yet to develop. It could involve subtracting a "leap second" from lunar time at intervals, leap seconds are already used for keeping UTC in sync with the solar time so it's an established process. Or maybe they'll just let Lunar time continue drifting relative to Earth, in which case there'll be a different "epoch" on each.
They probably actually will end up with atomic clocks on the moon, or at least in close lunar orbit. If the plan is to have something like gps on the moon, that's a first step.