diff --git a/msg/templates/uorb/msg.cpp.template b/msg/templates/uorb/msg.cpp.template
index 9244846c7f..abbf20f51a 100644
--- a/msg/templates/uorb/msg.cpp.template
+++ b/msg/templates/uorb/msg.cpp.template
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ topic_name = spec.short_name
 
 sorted_fields = sorted(spec.parsed_fields(), key=sizeof_field_type, reverse=True)
 struct_size, padding_end_size = add_padding_bytes(sorted_fields, search_path)
-topic_fields = ["%s %s" % (convert_type(field.type), field.name) for field in sorted_fields]
+topic_fields = ["uint64_t timestamp"]+["%s %s" % (convert_type(field.type), field.name) for field in sorted_fields]
 }@
 
 #include <px4_config.h>