Overview
- The calculation, published December 1 in The Astronomical Journal, shows an average gain of 477 microseconds per Earth day on the surface with seasonal variations up to 226 microseconds.
- Researchers defined a fixed reference level analogous to sea level and modeled gravitational and orbital effects from the Sun, Earth, the Moon, and other planets to compare clock rates.
- The Martian offset varies far more than the Moon’s relatively steady 56 microseconds per day difference relative to Earth.
- The result provides a baseline for time standards, precision navigation, and synchronized interplanetary networks where microsecond-level accuracy is already operationally significant.
- Signals between planets still incur one-way light-time delays of roughly 4 to 24 minutes, yet synchronized timing would sharpen mission coordination as routine human surface operations remain decades away.