Celestial Time Standardization Act

This bill tells NASA to create a standard way to keep time on the Moon, and to plan how that time system will support future work and infrastructure on and around the Moon. It directs NASA to study and define a “coordinated lunar time” and to build a strategy for putting it in place, working with the White House science office. The goal is to make it easier and safer for government, companies, universities, and international partners to work together in space. The bill notes that using Earth’s Coordinated Universal Time in space can be tricky because of physics, and says the United States should lead in setting these standards.

The time system should be tied back to Earth time, precise enough for navigation and science, keep working even if contact with Earth is lost, and be able to scale to places beyond the Earth–Moon area. NASA must also coordinate with other federal departments and consult private, academic, and international groups. A briefing to Congress on the plan is due within two years after the law takes effect.

• Who is affected: NASA; other federal agencies; private space companies; universities; and international standards bodies and partners.
• What changes: NASA leads the study and rollout of a “coordinated lunar time” with features like link to Earth time, high accuracy, resilience, and scalability.
• When: NASA must brief Congress on the strategy within two years of enactment.