Have you ever wondered what time it is on the moon? A software package developed by Chinese researchers has finally told us.
The model was built by a team from the Zishan Observatory in Nanjing and the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, and was detailed in a paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics in December 2025. The new lunar timekeeping method promises to remain accurate over a 1,000-year time span.
But why create your own moon clock in the first place? For answers, we turn, as we often do, to Albert Einstein.
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The Moon has less gravity than the Earth, so time passes slightly differently on the Moon. This effect was first predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. According to NASA, the moon advances by about 56 microseconds every 24 hours here on Earth.
Although small, this discrepancy can add up over time and pose major problems for future human missions to the moon, such as NASA’s Artemis initiative or the Russia-China Joint International Lunar Research Station. (Mars is an even bigger challenge, with its clock ticking about 477 microseconds per day faster than Earth’s.)
Astronauts who live and work on the moon need to be able to coordinate video calls, data sharing, and navigation with colleagues on the ground, so they need algorithms that can reliably convert Earth time to lunar time. In 2024, researchers introduced the idea of Time of the Lunar Coordinates (TCL). This is an equation that resolves this relativistic time dilation based on the distance of a particular point on the Moon relative to Earth’s gravitational field.
“This is not just about telling time, it’s about navigation, communication, and safety,” Sergei Kopeikin, an astronomer at the University of Missouri and co-author of the TCL paper, told Live Science via email.
The new system by the Chinese team is built on Kopeikin’s original algorithm. Essentially, it calculates a version of the TCL equation very quickly while taking into account additional factors such as the International Astronomical Union standard time-of-barycenter coordinate (TCB). The researchers named this system “lunar time calendar,” or LTE440.
Kopeikin called LTE440 “solid engineering.” This shows that China is serious about moving forward with its ambitious moon plans. However, he said NASA is still developing its own lunar time system, called Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC). The agency aims to have a system based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by the end of this year to achieve maximum interoperability across time zones.
Similarly, the European Space Agency is currently applying for its own lunar clock. These systems may use LTE440 as a benchmark to cross-check the space agency’s calculations, but it remains to be seen whether the Chinese system will become an international standard.
Eventually, standard monthly times will need to be adjusted between countries. Otherwise, lunar research risks falling into chaos. “If we fail, we risk a ‘time zone war’ in space,” Kopeikin said.
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