Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked on July 26, 2021
It seems that Starfleet ships have a need to align their onboard clocks with some broader sense of official Starfleet time. I’m interested in why this is needed & how it works.
As an example, in "Clues", Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 4, Episode 14, the Enterprise traveled through a wormhole (*) which transported them a distance equal to about 1 day’s normal travel.
Upon realizing this Data suggests an operation to re-align the ship’s clock:
PICARD: Thank you, Mister Data. Well, where the hell are we?
RIKER: Point five four parsecs from our original position. Almost a day’s travel in just thirty seconds?
DATA: Sir, I should re-align the ship’s clock with Starbase four ten’s subspace signal to adjust for the time distortion.
PICARD: Proceed.
(emphasis added – source of transcript)
Maybe there are other examples in other ST episodes, but I couldn’t think of any.
In general, what is the purpose of this procedure? Why does Starfleet need to align their clocks based on their local position?
(*)
The proper time on the ship will differ from the accepted standard time due to real world effects of Special and General Relativity. Additionally scifi stuff will cause ships to have different times like the wormhole example.
I don't think it is position so much as the local Starbase is the provider of the local authoritative clock.
Obviously one's clocks should be kept as accurate and synchronized as possible for official business reasons.
Answered by lucasbachmann on July 26, 2021
A better (and genuine) example of the need to readjust the displayed time on a starship would be TNG season 5 episode 18 "Cause and Effect" where the Enterprise was caught in a time loop along with the USS Bozeman.
Following their escape Picard orders Worf to communicate with a "Federation time-base beacon" to discover they had been caught in the loop for 17.4 days and when communication is opened with the Bozeman that the other ship had been trapped for 90 years.
In the case of "Clues" the starbase likely functions as such a beacon for the local region of space.
Answered by IG_42 on July 26, 2021
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