Scientists have big plans for the Moon. In fact, many want to establish a base on the Moon and then continue their space exploration from there, allowing rockets to take off without leaving Earth’s gravity. However, if we’re going to do all this, some scientists say we need to find a specific reference point for lunar communication: the time zone on the Moon.

One of the big plans for the month is to set up a month telecommunication service. In fact, the European Space Agency is already trying to attract private companies to such an initiative. As the race to the Moon continues to accelerate, developing long-term plans means figuring out everything we need to make a Moon base successful, including the timeframe on the Moon.

The need for such a time zone is explained by the need to provide users with more accurate location data on the lunar surface. Missions on the Moon now synchronize their clocks with Earth clocks. But ESA says this won’t be enough for future missions, especially when flying new missions. Having the moon time zone will help with this.

Discussions on creating a specific time zone for the lunar body began last November at a meeting at ESA’s European Center for Space Research and Technology in the Netherlands, the statement said. Having a standard lunar time zone is part of NASA’s larger effort to create LunaNet, a digital architecture network designed for communication and navigation on the Moon.

There is no current launch date for the Moonlight satellites that would allow LunaNet to operate. Nor is there a guarantee as to when the lunar time zone can be determined, or even how different it may be from our time zones on Earth. But the need for something like this is only increasing, so it will be interesting to see where ESA goes.