Artemis Accords
The Artemis Accords: Principles for Cooperation in the Civil Exploration and Use of the Moon, Mars, Comets, and Asteroids for Peaceful Purposes
Map of states' adoption of the Artemis Accords
Participation in the Artemis Accords (Nov. 2023)
  Signatory nation

TypeSpace law
Signed13 October 2020 (13 October 2020)
Parties
  • Angola
  • Argentina[1]
  • Australia
  • Bahrain
  • Brazil[2]
  • Bulgaria[3]
  • Canada
  • Colombia
  • Czech Republic
  • Ecuador
  • France
  • Germany[4]
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Israel[5]
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Luxembourg
  • Mexico[6]
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand[7]
  • Nigeria
  • Poland
  • South Korea[8]
  • Romania
  • Rwanda
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • Spain
  • Ukraine[9]
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Isle of Man[10]
LanguagesEnglish
Full text
Artemis Accords at Wikisource

The Artemis Accords is a non-binding multilateral arrangement between the United States government and other world governments participating in the Artemis program, an American-led effort to return humans to the Moon by 2025, with the ultimate goal of expanding space exploration to Mars and beyond.[11] As of December 4, 2023, thirty-three countries and one territory have signed the accords, including thirteen in Europe, eight in Asia, four in South America, three in North America, two in Oceania and four in Africa.

Drafted by NASA and the U.S. Department of State, the Accords establish a framework for cooperation in the civil exploration and peaceful use of the Moon, Mars, and other astronomical objects.[12] They are explicitly grounded in the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which signatories are obliged to uphold, and cite most major U.N.-brokered conventions constituting space law.[13][14][15][16][note 1]

The Accords were signed on 13 October 2020 by representatives of the national space agencies of eight countries: Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.[13] Additional signatories include Angola, Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Ukraine. The Accords remain open for signature indefinitely, as NASA anticipates more nations joining.[17] Additional signatories can choose to directly participate in Artemis program activities, or may agree simply to commit to the principles for responsible exploration of the Moon as set out in the Accords.[18]

History

On 5 May 2020, Reuters published an exclusive report that the Donald Trump administration was drafting a new international agreement for mining on the Moon, which would draw from the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.[19][20] Ten days later, then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine officially announced the Artemis Accords, a series of agreements with partner nations aimed at establishing a governing framework for exploring and mining the Moon.[21]

The Accords originated from the eponymous Artemis Program, an American plan launched in 2017 to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon by 2024.[22] Bridenstine stated that the agreements were intended to create a uniform set of guidelines for countries to avoid potential conflict or misunderstanding in future space endeavors; governments that sign the Accords may formally take part in the Artemis Program.[22]

The Accords were drafted by NASA, the U.S. Department of State, and the newly re-established National Space Council; a draft was released to several governments for consultation before the final document was announced in May 2020.[21][19]

On 13 October 2020, in a recorded and livestreamed ceremony, the Accords were signed by the directors of the national space agencies of the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.[13][23] The head of the Ukrainian national space agency signed the Accords exactly one month later.[9][24]

On 24 May 2021, South Korea became the tenth country to sign the Accords,[8][25] with New Zealand joining a week later.[26] The following June, Brazil became the first country in Latin America to join the Artemis Accords,[27] after previously indicating its intent to sign in 2020.[2][28]

Poland signed the accords on 26 October 2021 at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Dubai, with the head of the Polish Space Agency expressing a desire to develop indigenous Polish space technology.[29] On 9 December 2021, Mexico joined the accords.[6]

In 2022, the number of signatories of the accords more than doubled from the previous year: Israel signed the accords on 26 January 2022,[30] followed by Romania,[31] Bahrain,[32] and Singapore[33] in March; Colombia in May,[34] and France on 7 June 2022, the 60th anniversary of the founding of its space program[35] (pursuant to meetings in November 2021 between U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron in which he expressed France's intent to join).[36][37][38][39] Saudi Arabia signed the Accords on 14 July 2022, becoming the second Middle Eastern and Arab country to join.[40] On 13 December 2022, at the United States–Africa Leaders Summit, Rwanda and Nigeria became the first African nations to sign the Artemis Accords.[41][42]

On 19 September 2022, representatives from signatory nations held their first meeting at the IAC to discuss the Accords and cooperation in space more broadly.[43][44]

In May 2023, the Czech Republic[45][46] and Spain officially signed the Accords.[47]

On 22 June 2023, India officially signed the Accords[48] during prime minister Narendra Modi's state visit to the U.S.[49][50]

On 14 September 2023 (local time), Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR and Member of the DLR Executive Board Walther Pelzer, signed the Accords for Germany in the German embassy in Washington D.C. The ceremony was attended and witnessed as well by Space-Coordinator of the German Government, Anna Christmann, the current German ambassador in Washington, Andreas Michaelis as well as the Administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson.[51]

Iceland, the Netherlands and Bulgaria joined in October/November 2023.

Angola joined in December 2023 during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.[52]

Accords

Although a prerequisite for taking part in the Artemis Program, the Accords have been interpreted as codifying key principles and guidelines for exploring space generally.[15] Their stated purpose is to "provide for operational implementation of important obligations contained in the Outer Space Treaty and other instruments." The Accords are a single document, signed by each country that commits to the Accords' principles. Bilateral agreements between space agencies for specific operations on the Moon and beyond are expected to reference the Accords and implement them in particular projects.

The provisions:[53]

  • Affirm that cooperative activities under these Accords should be exclusively for peaceful purposes and in accordance with relevant international law.
  • Confirm a commitment to transparency and to share scientific information, consistent with Article XI of the Outer Space Treaty.
  • Call for a commitment to use reasonable efforts to utilize current interoperability standards for space-based infrastructure, and to establish standards when they do not exist or are inadequate.
  • Call for a commitment to take all reasonable efforts to render necessary assistance to personnel in outer space who are in distress and according to their obligations under the Rescue and Return Agreement.
  • Specify responsibility for the registration of objects in space, as required by the Registration Convention
  • Call for a commitment to publicly share information on their activities and to the open sharing of scientific data. While doing so, signatories agree to coordinate with each other to provide appropriate protection for any proprietary and/or export-controlled information, and this provision does not extend to private sector operations unless conducted on behalf of a signatory.
  • Include an agreement to preserve outer space heritage, which they consider to comprise historically significant human or robotic landing sites, artifacts, spacecraft, and other evidence of activity, and to contribute to multinational efforts to develop practices and rules to do so.
  • Include an agreement that extraction and utilization of space resources should be conducted in a manner that complies with the Outer Space Treaty and in support of safe and sustainable activities. The signatories affirm that this does not inherently constitute national appropriation, which is prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty. They also express an intent to contribute to multilateral efforts to further develop international practices and rules on this subject.
  • Reaffirm the signatories commitment to the Outer Space Treaty's provisions relating to due regard and harmful interference with other nations activities, and to provide information regarding the location and nature of space-based activities. Signatories express an intention to contribute to multilateral efforts to further develop international practices, criteria, and rules to assure this. To implement this, the Accords provide for the announcement of "safety zones", where other operations or an anomalous event could reasonably cause harmful interference. The size and scope of these safe zones should be based on the nature and environment of the operations involved and determined in a reasonable manner leveraging commonly accepted scientific and engineering principles. Within their safety zones, the signatories commit to respect the principle of free access to all areas of celestial bodies by others and all other provisions of the Outer Space Treaty.
  • Include a commitment to mitigate space debris and to limit the generation of new, harmful space debris in the normal operations, break-up in operational or post-mission phases, and accidents.

Reactions

Support

The Artemis Accords have generally been welcomed for advancing international law and cooperation in space.[15] Observers note that the substance of the Accords is "uncontentious" and represent a "significant political attempt to codify key principles of space law" for governing nations' space activities.[15] International legal scholars also credit the agreement with helping influence space exploration in the direction of uniform standards of cooperation and peaceful use.[54] The Accords have also been lauded for being the first multilateral instrument to recognize, in Section 9, the presence of human cultural heritage in outer space and the need to protect it.[55]

With Australia signing and ratifying both the Moon Treaty as well as the Artemis Accords, there has been a discussion if they can be harmonized.[56] In this light an Implementation Agreement for the Moon Treaty has been advocated for, as a way to compensate for the shortcomings of the Moon Treaty and to harmonize it with other laws, allowing it to be more widely accepted.[57][58]

Criticism

The Accords have also been criticized for allegedly being "too centered on American and commercial interests." Russia has condemned them as a "blatant attempt to create international space law that favors the United States."[59] Beside possibly being an opportunity for China in light of the Wolf Amendment, Chinese government affiliated media has called the Accords "akin to European colonial enclosure land-taking methods."[60] Russia and China have since reached an understanding to work together on the Chinese International Lunar Research Station concept, to serve as a potential competing option for third parties such as Pakistan and the UAE.[61]

Two researchers writing in Science magazine's Policy Forum have called on countries to speak up about their objections, and argued that the United States should go through the United Nations treaty process in order to negotiate on space mining. They were concerned NASA's Accords, if accepted by many nations, would enable the Accords' interpretation of the Outer Space Treaty to prevail.[59] Acceptance of the Artemis Accords is a prerequisite for participation in NASA's Artemis lunar program.[59]

Critics also contend that since the Outer Space Treaty expressly forbids nations from staking claim to another planetary body, the Accords violate space law by allowing signatories to lay claim to any resources extracted from celestial objects.[62] Frans von der Dunk of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln claims the Accords strengthen "the US interpretation of the Outer Space Treaty", namely "the basic right for individual States to allow the private sector to become engaged" in commercial activities. The weakened alternative interpretation is that "unilateral approval of commercial exploitation is not in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty, and that only an international regime, notably—presumably—including an international licensing system, could legitimise such commercial exploitation."[63][64]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Except the Moon Treaty, despite Australia having ratified it.

References

  1. ↑ "NASA destaca la decisión de Argentina de adherir a los Acuerdos de Artemisa" [NASA commends Argentina's decision to adhere to the Artemis Accords]. Infobae (in Spanish). 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Brazil Signs Artemis Accords". NASA.gov. 15 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "Bulgaria Signs Artemis Accords at NASA Headquarters; Joins 31 Nations". NASA.gov. 9 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "Germany signs the Artemis Accords". www.dlr.de. Retrieved 2023-09-15.
  5. ↑ "Israel, American NASA Set To Collaborate On Space Exploration; Special Focus On Moon And Mars – Minister".
  6. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (10 December 2021). "Mexico joins Artemis Accords". SpaceNews. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Space exploration soars with Artemis Accords". The Beehive. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  8. 1 2 Potter, Sean (2021-05-27). "Republic of Korea Joins List of Nations to Sign Artemis Accords". NASA.
  9. 1 2 "Ukraine becomes the 9th country to sign the Artemis Accords". U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  10. ↑ "Isle of Man Government - Artemis Accords to be extended to the Isle of Man".
  11. ↑ Dunbar, Brian (2019-07-23). "What is Artemis?". NASA. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  12. ↑ "NASA: Artemis Accords". NASA. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  13. 1 2 3 Potter, Sean (2020-10-13). "NASA, International Partners Advance Cooperation with Artemis Accords". NASA. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  14. ↑ "Fact Sheet: Artemis Accords - United for Peaceful Exploration of Deep Space". U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Brazil. 2020-10-20. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Newman, Christopher (2020-10-19). "Artemis Accords: why many countries are refusing to sign Moon exploration agreement". The Conversation. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  16. ↑ "The Artemis Accords and the Future of International Space Law". ASIL. Retrieved 2021-06-17.
  17. ↑ "NASA, International Partners Advance Cooperation with First Signings of Artemis Accords". NASA. Oct 13, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-15. Additional countries will join the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues to work with its international partners to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space. Working with emerging space agencies, as well as existing partners and well-established space agencies, will add new energy and capabilities to ensure the entire world can benefit from the Artemis journey of exploration and discovery.
  18. ↑ Howell, Elizabeth (August 25, 2022). "Artemis Accords: Why the international moon exploration framework matters". Space.com. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  19. 1 2 "NASA: Artemis Accords". nasa.gov. NASA. Retrieved 16 May 2020. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  20. ↑ "Exclusive: Trump administration drafting 'Artemis Accords' pact for moon mining - sources". Reuters. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  21. 1 2 Wall, Mike (15 May 2020). "NASA lays out 'Artemis Accords' for responsible moon exploration". space.com. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  22. 1 2 Grush, Loren (2020-10-13). "US and seven other countries sign NASA's Artemis Accords to set rules for exploring the Moon". The Verge. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  23. ↑ Grush, Lauren (October 13, 2020). "US and seven other countries sign NASA's Artemis Accords to set rules for exploring the Moon". The Verge. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
  24. ↑ "Україна стала дев'ятою країною, яка підписала Домовленості в рамках програми "Артеміда"". www.nkau.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  25. ↑ Potter, Sean (2021-05-26). "Republic of Korea Joins List of Nations to Sign Artemis Accords". NASA. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  26. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2021-06-01). "New Zealand signs Artemis Accords". SpaceNews.
  27. ↑ Bill Nelson [@senbillnelson] (June 15, 2021). "Brazil joins 11 other nations as a signatory of the #Artemis Accords today! As the 1st country in South America to make this commitment to a sustainable space environment, Brazil shows the global impact of the Accords around the world. Thanks for your support, @Astro_Pontes!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  28. ↑ Potter, Sean (2020-12-14). "NASA Administrator Signs Statement of Intent with Brazil on Artemis". NASA. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
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  30. ↑ אייכנר, איתמר (26 January 2022). "זה רשמי: ישראל הצטרפה ל"הסכמי ארטמיס" בחלל" [It's official: Israel has joined the "Artemis Accords" in space]. ynet (in Hebrew).
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  32. ↑ "Bahrain Signs Artemis Accords". NASA. 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  33. ↑ "Republic of Singapore Signs the Artemis Accords". United States Department of State. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
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  35. ↑ Potter, Sean (2022-06-07). "France Signs Artemis Accords as French Space Agency Marks Milestone". NASA. Retrieved 2022-06-07.
  36. ↑ Erwin, Sandra (10 November 2021). "U.S. and France agree to expand cooperation on space issues". Space News. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
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  40. ↑ Potter, Sean (2022-07-14). "Saudi Arabia Signs Artemis Accords". NASA. Retrieved 2022-07-16.
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  44. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2022-09-21). "Artemis Accords signatories hold first meeting". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
  45. ↑ Tingley, Brett (2023-05-03). "Czech Republic signs Artemis Accords for 'peaceful, cooperative and sustainable' moon exploration". Space.com. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  46. ↑ McGuinness, Jackie; Bardan, Roxana (2023-05-03). O'Shea, Claire (ed.). "NASA Welcomes Czech Foreign Minister for Artemis Accords Signing". NASA. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  47. ↑ Jones, Andrew (2023-06-02). "Spain signs the Artemis Accords for peaceful moon exploration". Space. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  48. ↑ O’Shea, Claire (2023-06-23). "NASA Welcomes India as 27th Artemis Accords Signatory". NASA. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
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  54. ↑ Fidler, David P (June 2, 2020). "The Artemis Accords and the Next Generation of Outer Space Governance". Council on Foreign Relations.
  55. ↑ Hanlon, Michelle; Martin, Anne-Sophie (25 October 2020). "#SpaceWatchGL Opinion: In a Historic First, Eight Nations Formally Recognize the Need to Preserve Heritage in Space". SpaceWatch.Global.
  56. ↑ Tronchetti, Fabio; Liu, Hao (June 3, 2021). "Australia Between the Moon Agreement and the Artemis Accords". Australian Institute of International Affairs.
  57. ↑ O’Brien, Dennis (Jun 29, 2020). "The Space Review: The Artemis Accords: repeating the mistakes of the Age of Exploration". The Space Review.
  58. ↑ O’Brien, Dennis (2020-06-01). "Legal Support for the Private Sector: An Implementation Agreement for the Moon Treaty". Advances in Astronautics Science and Technology. 3 (1): 49–64. doi:10.1007/s42423-020-00059-w. ISSN 2524-5260. S2CID 257110483.
  59. 1 2 3 Boley A, Byers M (2020). "U.S. policy puts the safe development of space at risk". Science. 370 (6513): 174–175. Bibcode:2020Sci...370..174B. doi:10.1126/science.abd3402. PMID 33033208. S2CID 222211122.
  60. ↑ Ji, Elliot; Cerny, Michael B; Piliero, Raphael J (17 September 2020). "What Does China Think About NASA's Artemis Accords?". The Diplomat.
  61. ↑ Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Pillai (7 June 2021). "The Artemis Accords and Global Lunar Governance". The Diplomat.
  62. ↑ Grush, Loren (2020-10-13). "US and seven other countries sign NASA's Artemis Accords to set rules for exploring the Moon". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  63. ↑ von der Dunk, Frans (2020-06-02). "The Artemis Accords and the law: Is the Moon 'back in business'?". Public Interest Media. Archived from the original on 2020-06-02. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
  64. ↑ Stirn, Alexander (2020-10-30). "Raumfahrt: Wie die USA das Völkerrecht aushebeln könnten". www.spektrum.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
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