The US government has asked Nasa to develop a way to keep track of time on the Moon
The White House wants US space agency Nasa to develop a new time zone for the Moon - Coordinated Lunar Time.Because of the different gravitational field strength on the Moon, time moves quicker there relative to Earth - 58.7 microseconds every day.
The US government hopes the new time will help keep national and private efforts to reach the moon co-ordinated.
Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland's Astronomer Royal, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This fundamental theory of gravity in our Universe has an important consequence that time runs differently in different places in the Universe."The gravity on the Moon is slightly weaker and the clocks run differently.
Time is currently measured on Earth by hundreds of atomic clocks stationed around our planet which measure the changing energy state of atoms to record time to the nanosecond.
"An atomic clock on the Moon will tick at a different rate than a clock on Earth," said Kevin Coggins, Nasa's top communications and navigation official.
"It makes sense that when you go to another body, like the Moon or Mars, that each one gets its own heartbeat," he said.
Nasa is not the only one trying to make lunar time a reality.
The European Space Agency has also been developing a new time system for a while.
The US wants CLT to be ready by 2026 in time for its manned mission to the Moon.
If time is not co-ordinated between them it could lead to challenges in sending data and communication between spacecraft, satellites and Earth.