Joe Biden: ‘Does anyone know what time it is on the Moon?’

At times it can seem like we’re living through one of the bleakest periods in history. The climate crisis is raging on; millions have been displaced from their homes due to violence and conflict; millions more live in poverty, while corrupt elites get richer and richer. You’d hope that in a time racked by crises like these, world leaders would channel all their time, energy, and resources into alleviating suffering and laying the groundwork for the creation of a fairer world.

But no. When Joe Biden’s time as president is recorded in the annals of history, he’ll be remembered as the guy who spent the 2020s trying to figure out what time it is on the moon.

That’s right – in a memorandum published on Tuesday, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) instructed NASA and other US agencies to collaborate with international agencies to come up with a new time standard called ‘Coordinated Lunar Time’ or ‘LTC’ by the end of 2026.