Technical Specification v1-00
Author: James Good
Date: 4.54/075-12-30 EPE (30/12/2025 CE)
The specification is designed to coexist with existing civil calendars, remain compatible with scientific & computational systems, and scale naturally to a multi-planet civilisation.
This document defines the Planetary Era (PE) time system: a non-religious framework for civil timekeeping anchored to physical events rather than cultural or theological reference points.
Purpose & Design Goals
The Planetary Era system is designed to provide:
- a non-religious civil timekeeping framework
- anchoring to physical events rather than cultural or theological ones
- compatibility with existing civil calendars
- scalability to multiple planets
- interoperability with scientific & computational systems
The system is explicitly designed for coexistence, not replacement.
System Hierarchy
The framework consists of three conceptual layers.
Universal Physical Era (UPE)
UPE allows time on different planets to be referenced back to a common universal origin, much like a coordinate system in physics.
Definition: Time measured relative to the formation of the universe
Epoch: Big Bang (~13.8 billion years ago)
Purpose: Universal physical reference frame
UPE is:
- planet-independent
- culture-independent
- not intended for daily civil use
UPE exists to provide a common reference layer across planetary systems.
Planetary Era (PE)
Definition: A class of civil timekeeping systems
Anchor: Formation of a specific planetary body
Purpose: Local civil time, interoperable via UPE
PE is a template, not a single calendar.
Earth Planetary Era (EPE)
Definition: Planetary Era instance for Earth
Formal Identifier: SOL-EAR-PE
Human-Friendly Short Form: EPE
Anchor: Earth’s formation
Purpose: Civil timekeeping on Earth
This specification primarily defines Earth’s Planetary Era, while remaining extensible to other bodies.
Epoch Definition (EPE)
Scientific Reference Point (“Present”)
In geoscience, “present” is formally defined as:
1950-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
This definition is fixed and internationally accepted in:
- radiocarbon dating
- geology
- archaeology
All BP (Before Present) values refer to this reference point, not to the current date.
Earth Formation
Earth’s formation is constrained by radiometric dating to approximately:
4.54 × 10⁹ years before present (BP)
This value carries acknowledged uncertainty on the order of tens of millions of years.
EPE Epoch
The Earth Planetary Era epoch is defined as:
EPE 0 = Earth formation
Which corresponds to:
1950-01-01 = 4,540,000,000 EPE
This mapping is exact by definition.
EPE Conversion Rules
For a Gregorian calendar year Y CE, ignoring month & day precision:
EPE ≈ 4,540,000,000 + (Y − 1950)
For an event occurring X years before present (BP):
EPE ≈ 4,540,000,000 − X
Where “present” is defined as 1950-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
When full date & time precision is used, the mapping between Gregorian time and EPE is exact by definition.
Time Units & Calendar Structure
Units
EPE retains all existing civil units:
- second
- minute
- hour
- day
- month
- year
No new units are introduced.
Year Length
An EPE year is identical to a Gregorian year:
~365.2422 Earth days
This ensures:
- seasonal continuity
- legal compatibility
- software compatibility
Calendar Structure
- Gregorian months
- Gregorian leap-year rules
- UTC as the reference time standard
No structural calendar changes are introduced.
Year Numbering
Authoritative EPE Year
The authoritative representation of an EPE year is a monotonic, non-negative integer:
YYYYYYYYYY EPE
Example (30 December 2025 CE):
4,540,000,075 EPE
Authoritative EPE values:
- are authoritative for computation
- are sortable
- are unambiguous
- are continuous
Authoritative EPE values shall never be negative.
Shorthand Human-Readable Form
A compact shorthand may be used for contemporary civil contexts only:
4.54/075 EPE
Where:
4.54= Earth’s age in billions of years, rounded to two decimal places075= year index within the current million-year block (000–999)
The shorthand representation is display-only & not authoritative.
Minimal Spoken Form
For speech & informal writing:
75 EPE
This mirrors existing civil conventions.
Representation Rules By Timescale
The two representations serve different purposes & are not interchangeable.
| Context | Representation |
|---|---|
| Deep geological / planetary history | Authoritative EPE only |
| Modern history | Authoritative EPE or dual-dated |
| Contemporary civil use | Shorthand permitted |
Mandatory Authoritative Usage For Deep Time
When discussing:
- planetary formation
- evolution of life
- mass extinctions
- palaeoclimate
- deep future projections
Only authoritative EPE values shall be used.
Example:
Dinosaur extinction: ~4,474,000,000 EPE
Shorthand representations must not be used for such events.
Shorthand Constraints
The shorthand suffix:
/YYY
- shall always be an integer
- shall range from
000to999 - shall increment once per civil year
- shall not contain fractional values
Fractional shorthand values (e.g. /999.5) are explicitly disallowed.
Dates Before 1950
Dates earlier than 1950-01-01 are represented by simple subtraction.
| Gregorian Year | EPE Year |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 4,540,000,000 EPE |
| 1949 | 4,539,999,999 EPE |
| 1900 | 4,539,999,950 EPE |
Shorthand For Pre-1950 Dates
Signed shorthand offsets may be used for display purposes:
4.54/-001 EPE (1949)
4.54/-050 EPE (1900)
Negative values are permitted only in shorthand offsets; authoritative EPE values remain non-negative.
This approach avoids BC/AD discontinuities.
Date Formatting (Interoperability)
Authoritative Date Format
Machine-readable dates shall follow ISO-style ordering:
YYYYYYYYYY-MM-DD EPE
Example:
4540000075-12-30 EPE
Date-Time Format
Including time & timezone:
4540000075-12-30T03:05Z EPE
Display Formats
Human-facing formats may vary but must not be ambiguous.
Recommended display format:
4.54/075-12-30 EPE
Locale-specific variants (e.g. 30/12) are display-only.
Multi-Planet Extension
Each planetary body defines a Planetary Era instance with both a formal ISO-style identifier and an optional human-friendly shorthand.
| Body | Formal Identifier | Short Form |
|---|---|---|
| Earth | SOL-EAR-PE | EPE |
| Mars | SOL-MAR-PE | MaPE |
| Mercury | SOL-MER-PE | MePE |
| Moon | SOL-LUN-PE | LPE |
| Venus | SOL-VEN-PE | VPE |
Each instance:
- anchors to planetary formation
- uses the body’s local orbital year
- remains interoperable via UPE
Cross-planet comparison shall be performed via UPE, not by equating local year lengths.
AI & Computational Considerations
The Planetary Era framework:
- removes religious epochs
- provides monotonic timelines
- separates universal & local reference frames
- reduces semantic calendar conversion overhead
It does not change computational complexity or clock precision.
Non-Goals
This specification explicitly does not:
- mandate adoption
- abolish existing calendars
- redefine seconds or clocks
- introduce a planet-neutral civil year
- claim cosmological precision beyond accepted uncertainty
Timekeeping is a coordinate system.
This specification explores what happens when the zero-point is physical rather than cultural.
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