I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2313
To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis-
tration to develop celestial time standardization to support future oper-
ations and infrastructure on and around the Moon and other celestial
bodies other than Earth, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH25, 2025
Ms. M
CCLELLANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
A BILL
To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration to develop celestial time stand-
ardization to support future operations and infrastruc-
ture on and around the Moon and other celestial bodies
other than Earth, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Celestial Time Stand-4
ardization Act’’. 5
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•HR 2313 IH
SEC. 2. CELESTIAL TIME STANDARDIZATION. 1
(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-2
gress that— 3
(1) United States leadership of a sustained 4
presence on the Moon and in deep space exploration 5
is important for advancing science, exploration, com-6
mercial growth, and international partnership; 7
(2) the Artemis and Moon to Mars program of 8
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 9
(NASA) will involve governmental, commercial, aca-10
demic, and international partners where there is a 11
need for interoperability between systems; 12
(3) the use of Coordinated Universal Time has 13
challenges when used beyond Earth at other celestial 14
bodies, due to relativistic effects; 15
(4) the United States should lead in developing 16
time standardization for the Moon and other celes-17
tial bodies other than Earth to support interoper-18
ability and safe and sustainable operations; and 19
(5) development of such standardization will ad-20
vance United States leadership in setting standards 21
for global competitiveness, and will benefit other 22
spacefaring countries and entities. 23
(b) D
EVELOPMENT OF CELESTIALTIMESTANDARD-24
IZATION.—The Administrator of NASA, in consultation 25
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•HR 2313 IH
with the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 1
Policy, shall carry out the following: 2
(1) Enable the development of celestial time 3
standardization, including by leading the study and 4
definition of a coordinated lunar time. 5
(2) Develop a strategy to implement a coordi-6
nated lunar time that would support future oper-7
ations and infrastructure on and around the Moon. 8
(3) In carrying out paragraphs (1) and (2)— 9
(A) coordinate with relevant Federal enti-10
ties, including the Department of Commerce, 11
the Department of Defense, the Department of 12
State, and the Department of Transportation; 13
and 14
(B) consult with relevant— 15
(i) private sector entities; 16
(ii) academic entities; and 17
(iii) international standards setting 18
bodies and international partners. 19
(4) Incorporate the following features of a co-20
ordinated lunar time, to the extent practicable, in 21
the development of the strategy developed pursuant 22
to paragraph (2): 23
(A) Traceability to Coordinated Universal 24
Time. 25
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•HR 2313 IH
(B) Accuracy sufficient to support preci-1
sion navigation and science. 2
(C) Resilience to loss of contact with 3
Earth. 4
(D) Scalability to space environments be-5
yond the Earth-Moon system. 6
(c) B
RIEFING.—Not later than two years after the 7
date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 8
NASA shall brief the Committee on Science, Space, and 9
Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com-10
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 11
Senate on the strategy developed pursuant to subsection 12
(b)(2), including relevant plans, timelines, and resources 13
required for the implementation of a coordinated lunar 14
time pursuant to such strategy. 15
Æ
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