“This memorandum outlines the Biden-Harris Administration’s policy to establish time standards at and around celestial bodies other than Earth to advance the National Cislunar S&T Strategy. OSTP directs federal departments and agencies to align their planning and policies with this memorandum.
“The approach to establish time standards consists of the definition, development, and implementation of a distinct reference time at each celestial body and its surrounding space environment. Each new time standard developed will include the following features:
1. Traceability to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC); 2. Accuracy sufficient to support precision navigation and science; 3. Resilience to loss of contact with Earth; and 4. Scalability to space environments beyond the Earth-Moon system Federal agencies will develop celestial time standardization with an initial focus on the lunar surface and missions operating in Cislunar space, with sufficient traceability to support missions to other celestial bodies. NASA will, in coordination with the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation, provide a finalized strategy to the Executive Office of the President to implement lunar timing standardization no later than December 31, 2026,” says a memo from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.