Yayin da duniya ta shirya da shiga zuwa Wata tare da Artemis program, wata muhimmiyar bukatun abubuwa ya fito wanda yawancin mutane ba su yace: menene lokacin a kan Wata? A Afirilu 2, 2024, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) ta umarci NASA da ta kafa unified lunar time standard da ake kira Coordinated Lunar Time, ko LTC, a karshen 2026.
Yace Wata Ke Bukatu na Lokaci Daban
A kan Duniya, muna amfani da Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), wanda ana aiki da network na karim 400 atomic clocks a jihar duniya. GPS satellites, financial systems, power grids, kuma internet dukkan yana amfani da daidai na synchronization tare da UTC.
Wata yana nune wata muhimma bukata. Saboda karfin gravity bai zuwa ba kamar Duniya, clocks a kan saman Wata yana gudu kimanin 56.02 microseconds sannu kowannen ranar Duniya fiye da identical clocks a Duniya. Abin da ake kira Einstein's general theory of relativity yana tsara. Dole da daidaitaccen relay na Duniya lokaci zuwa Wata ya zama daidai tare da local lunar clocks.
A kan jiya gida, 56 microseconds ana iya ganin cewa ba shi da muhimmiyar. Kuma para navigation systems, daidai sauyin yana yi matsayin errors na kimanin 16 meters kowannen ranar. A kan jiya, errors za su gida kimanin 500 meters — kamar yadda ya dace da landing, rover navigation, kuma communication relay timing unreliable.
Yadda LTC Za Ya Aiki
Coordinated Lunar Time za a kara a kan abin da daidai kamar UTC kuma an sabunta para na lunar environment. Abin da ake tsabar shine placing a network na atomic clocks a kan saman Wata kuma a lunar orbit. Wannan clocks za a amfani don lissafi weighted average wanda aka ayyana official lunar time.
LTC za a mai daidai da fixed, well-defined relationship tare da UTC don cewa lokaci zai kasance seamlessly convertable tsakanin Duniya kuma Wata. Keɓance bisa shi ne na yadda LTC za a iya lissafi relativistic offset — jimillar sauyin da ya tayar wa lunar clocks gudu.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) ta buga technical framework a Agusta 2024 da ke bayyana abin lissafi para samun lunar time daga relativistic corrections zuwa UTC.
International Aiki
Lunar timekeeping ba shi da NASA project ne kawai. United Nations International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) ya kafa dedicated working group a cikin 2024 don tsada lunar timing internationally. Artemis Accords — signed ta karim 50 nations — yana amince da bukatar al'adu da muke daidai, kuma tsabar lokaci shine foundation.
European Space Agency (ESA) ta kuma kasance yin shawara tungkali lunar timekeeping kamar sai na Moonlight initiative nata, wanda ake tsabar da ta ba communication kuma navigation services a gefe na Wata.
Menene LTC Yana Nuni Para Sa Gida
Tsabar lunar time za ta kunna precision navigation para landers kuma rovers, reliable communication scheduling tsakanin Duniya kuma Wata, coordination tsakanin missions daga different space agencies, kuma eventually foundation para timekeeping a kan Mars kuma ma'auni.
Simulated Coordinated Lunar Time da ake nune a moontimenow.com amfani da published drift rate na +56.02 microseconds kowannen ranar, tara daga J2000.0 epoch, don kifi abin da official LTC agogo za a karanta jiya.