Celestial Time Standardization Act

Congress finds that United States leadership in sustained lunar and deep space exploration is crucial for advancing science, commerce, and international partnerships. The current Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) presents challenges beyond Earth due to relativistic effects, necessitating a new time standard for celestial bodies to ensure interoperability among diverse partners in programs like Artemis. The bill mandates the Administrator of NASA, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, to lead the development of celestial time standardization , specifically focusing on a coordinated lunar time . This includes defining the standard and creating a strategy for its implementation to support future operations and infrastructure on and around the Moon. NASA must coordinate with various federal entities, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation, and consult with private sector, academic, and international partners. The coordinated lunar time should be traceable to UTC, offer sufficient accuracy for precision navigation, be resilient to loss of contact with Earth, and be scalable to environments beyond the Earth-Moon system. NASA is also required to brief Congress on this strategy within two years.