HR2313-119

What This Bill Does

The Celestial Time Standardization Act tells NASA to lead U.S. work on timekeeping beyond Earth. The bill finds that Artemis and Moon to Mars operations will involve government, commercial, academic, and international partners that need interoperable systems, and that ordinary Coordinated Universal Time has problems on the Moon and other celestial bodies because of relativistic effects. NASA must enable celestial time standardization, study and define coordinated lunar time, and develop a strategy for using coordinated lunar time for future operations and infrastructure on and around the Moon.

Who Benefits and How

Commercial space companies benefit because a common lunar time standard can reduce interoperability risk for navigation, communications, payload operations, and lunar infrastructure. Artemis program partners benefit from a shared timing framework for government, commercial, academic, and international systems. Academic space researchers benefit from a standard designed to support precision navigation and science. International standards bodies benefit from a U.S.-led process that gives them a defined consultation role.

Who Bears the Burden and How

NASA must lead the technical study, define coordinated lunar time, prepare the implementation strategy, coordinate across federal agencies, consult outside stakeholders, and brief Congress within two years. The Office of Science and Technology Policy must consult with NASA. The Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation face coordination duties because the bill names them as relevant federal entities for the strategy.

Key Provisions

• Directs NASA to enable celestial time standardization and lead the study and definition of coordinated lunar time.
• Requires NASA to develop a strategy for implementing coordinated lunar time for operations and infrastructure on and around the Moon.
• Requires coordination with the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation.
• Requires consultation with private sector entities, academic entities, international standards bodies, and international partners.
• Specifies design features for coordinated lunar time, including UTC traceability, precision for navigation and science, resilience without Earth contact, and scalability beyond the Earth-Moon system.
• Requires a congressional briefing within two years on plans, timelines, and resources needed to implement coordinated lunar time.