By Elishya Perera
Washington DC (CWBN)_ The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reported that eight countries have signed an international pact for moon exploration yesterday (Oct 13). Known as the Artemis Accords, the programme is a US-led effort to establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in the agency’s 21st century lunar exploration plans.
“Artemis will be the broadest and most diverse international human space exploration program in history, and the Artemis Accords are the vehicle that will establish this singular global coalition,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. “With today’s signing, we are uniting with our partners to explore the Moon and are establishing vital principles that will create a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space for all of humanity to enjoy”.
During a space conference held yesterday, the agreement was signed by The United States, The United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. According to Bridenstine, the accords are consistent with a 1967 treaty holding that the moon and other celestial bodies are exempt from national claims of ownership.
The programme, which was launched in 2017, aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024. The Accord is one of NASA’s many efforts to ensure cooperation between states in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies. “Fundamentally, the Artemis Accords will help to avoid conflict in space and on Earth by strengthening mutual understanding and reducing misperceptions. Transparency, public registration, deconflicting operations – these are the principles that will preserve peace,” said Mike Gold, NASA Acting Associate Administrator for International and Interagency Relations. “The Artemis journey is to the Moon, but the destination of the Accords is a peaceful and prosperous future.”
The Accord was signed two weeks after the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on NASA, which was held on 30th September 2020. Prior to the hearing, The International Space Station claimed that the space has is becoming overcrowded, as they had narrowly avoided a collision with space debris for the third time this year, which is an unprecedented rate. Many parties called for international regulations on outer space to be reformed, while Bridenstine pressed the Congress to release the $15 million funding that Commerce Department had advocated for Office of Space Commerce work. “We’re providing global space situational awareness and space traffic management to the world for free,” Bridenstine said at the hearing. “We need to take that data, combine it with commercial and international data to create a single integrated space picture that can be shared with the world”.
At the time, the international regulations on outer space were mainly governed by the 1967 the Outer Space Treaty, which was agreed at a time when only two countries were going to outer space. However, according to NASA, The Artemis Accords reinforce and implement the 1967 Treaty, and also upholds the commitment by the US and partner nations to the Registration Convention and the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts.
Edited by Michelle Alles
