Artemis Accords Foster Peaceful Space Cooperation

F.P. Report

WASHINGTON: The Artemis Accords bring together nations through a common set of principles to guide civil space exploration, setting the stage for peaceful, responsible, and productive cooperation in space affairs. Through robust space diplomacy from the Department of State and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Accords have grown to 19 national signatories from nearly every region of the world.

As of May 10, 2022, signatories include Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  By signing the Artemis Accords, these nations affirm their commitment to key principles, grounded in the Outer-Space Treaty of 1967:  peaceful purposes, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of space objects, release of scientific data, protection of space heritage, safe and sustainable use of space resources, deconfliction of activities, and mitigation of orbital debris, including disposal of spacecraft.

Artemis Accords signatories hope to facilitate further peaceful collaboration in space, including through NASA’s Artemis program which seeks to put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon and build the foundation for human missions to Mars.  The Artemis program will be the broadest and most diverse international human space exploration coalition in history.

The principles of the Artemis Accords play a significant role in our civil space cooperation and diplomacy efforts, and cooperation between Accords signatories is not limited to the Artemis program.  Such collaboration between signatories ranges from space and Earth science to aeronautics research.

The United States will continue encouraging more nations to sign the Artemis Accords, and in doing so, build a more peaceful, cooperative space future.