However, it’s more challenging than it might seem.
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00:00What time is it right now?
00:05Depending on where you are on Earth, that will change.
00:07But did you know that Earth has a planetary universal time?
00:10It's useful if you are a human, but you might not be on Earth, rather floating above
00:13it.
00:14But what about when you get even further away, or maybe someday live further away?
00:18As humankind edges ever closer to revisiting, and likely setting up a base on the moon,
00:22experts are now calling for a time zone for the lunar surface.
00:25The ESA has been advocating for a standardized lunar time zone for a while, and recently
00:29the first steps have been taken.
00:31But why is it important?
00:32Well, soon, unmanned landers by NASA, ESA, and Japan and Canada's space programs will
00:37all have landers on the moon simultaneously.
00:40Many of them have joint missions, however their space agencies are spread out in multiple
00:43time zones around the world.
00:45Not to mention it takes time for messages to travel 240,000 miles from the lunar surface
00:50back to us on Earth.
00:51But there's a catch.
00:52Normal clocks run differently on the moon, meaning we need a way to keep proper time
00:56along the ground on the lunar surface, with the head of strategic planning at ESA saying
01:00about it quote,
01:01This will be quite a challenge on a planetary surface where in the equatorial region, each
01:05day is 29.5 days long, including freezing fortnight-long lunar nights, with the whole
01:10of Earth just a small blue circle in the dark sky.