In April 2024, the White House directed NASA to establish Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) by December 2026. The programme assumes that a unified time standard can be constructed by deploying atomic clocks on the lunar surface, computing relativistic corrections, and distributing synchronized time via LunaNet. This paper argues that the entire enterprise rests on a category mistake in the sense introduced by Ryle and developed by Spekkens in quantum foundations: it treats "synchronized time" as an ontic entity -- something that exists independently and can be transmitted from authoritative sources to dependent receivers -- when it is in fact an epistemic construct: a model-dependent representation of observer-relative clock relationships. We analyze the cislunar time programme through the lens of Forward-In-Time-Only (FITO) assumptions, Spekkens' Leibnizian operationalism, the Wood-Spekkens fine-tuning argument, and the distinction between ontic and epistemic interpretations that has dissolved long-standing puzzles in quantum mechanics. We show that the same conceptual move that dissolves quantum "mysteries" -- recognizing what is epistemic versus what is ontic -- dissolves the apparent coherence of the cislunar time programme and reveals it as an engineering project built on a philosophical confusion. We sketch a transactional alternative grounded in bilateral atomic interactions rather than unidirectional time distribution.

翻译：2024年4月，白宫指示NASA于2026年12月前建立协调月球时间（LTC）。该计划假定通过在月球表面部署原子钟、计算相对论修正值，并通过LunaNet分发同步时间，即可构建统一的时间标准。本文认为，整个计划建立在赖尔提出并由斯佩肯斯在量子基础理论中发展的范畴错误之上：它将“同步时间”视为一种本体实体——即独立存在且可从权威源传输至依赖接收器的事物——而事实上它是一种认知建构：一种依赖于模型、表征观测者相对时钟关系的表述。我们通过仅向前时间假设、斯佩肯斯的莱布尼茨操作主义、伍德-斯佩肯斯精细调节论证，以及消解量子力学中长期谜题的本体与认知解释之区分等视角，分析了地月时间计划。我们表明，消解量子“神秘性”的同一概念性举措——即区分认知性内容与本体性内容——也消解了地月时间计划表面上的自洽性，揭示其为一个建立在哲学混淆之上的工程项目。我们勾勒了一种基于双向原子相互作用而非单向时间分发的交易性替代方案。