Eight countries have signed Artemis records, A group of theories outlining responsible exploration of Earth’s nearest neighbor, NASA officials announced today (October 13).
Now the way has been cleared for those eight nations Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and the US to (obviously) participate in the NASA of America. Artemis program Lunar exploration of the crew. Artemis aims to land two astronauts near the lunar south pole in 2024 and establish a permanent human presence on and around the moon by the end of the decade – a goal NASA aims to help international and private sector partners.
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“This is just the beginning,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstein said during a conversation with reporters yesterday (October 12). “These accents are going to grow from here, and we’re excited about bringing in new partners as we move forward.”
The Artemis agreements serve as a prelude to bilateral, government-to-government agreements that the participating nations will sign with the US. Future agreements will present each country’s specific contribution to the Artemis program, while newly signed agreements “establish norms of behavior and” rules for space operations, “Bridenstein said.
For example, the signing of the Artemis Agreement, inter alia, that they would perform all space activities peacefully and in accordance with international law; Help protect space heritage such as Apollo Landing Site; Release scientific data in a timely manner; Providing assistance to astronauts who need it; And their hardware and other systems can make a “difference” to maximize cooperative use.
Before they flared up, said Bridenstein, agreements were drawn up to prevent a collision with the earth.
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Bridenstein said that Artemis’ ambitious timeline eliminated the possibility of attracting a multilateral agreement through the United Nations or other international organization. But he insisted that the Artemis agreement was completely in line with the already existing treaties, the most important one being – 1967 Outer space treaty (OST), which forms the basis for international space law.
Indeed, the Accord will “operationalize” the OST, giving it some much-needed teeth, said Bridenstein and Mike Gould, Associate Administrators for NASA’s Office of International and Emergency Relations.
“If you want to join the Artemis trip, nations must abide by the Outer Space Treaty and other norms of behavior that will create a more peaceful, secure and prosperous future not only for NASA and its allies but in space exploration . Humanity to enjoy, “Gold said on yesterday’s call.
The Artemis Agreement states that humanity can benefit from the use of space resources. And NASA plans to exploit lunar resources on a large scale during the Artemis program, especially water ice that lingers on the permanently capped floors of lunar craters. This ice can not only provide life support for astronauts, but can also be divided into its components hydrogen and oxygen, the main components of rocket fuel, agency officials have emphasized.
Such mining activities will be conducted in full compliance with the OST, Artemis Agreement strain. (OST prohibits any nation from claiming sovereignty over the moon or any other celestial object. But it appears to allow extraction and sale. Space resource, Many space law experts say. And the american congress Passed a law in 2015 Explicitly allowing US companies to mine and sell off-earth resources.)
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NASA first announced the existence of the Artemis Awards in May of this year, but the agency did not release the full text of the document to date. This is because NASA needs time to resolve and engage the response of future international partners, Bridenstein and Gold.
Gold said that the feedback improved the Accord significantly. For example, Japanese officials convinced NASA to expand the document’s access to activities around comets and asteroids, he said. (Accord already covers Mars The moon; NASA intends for Artemis to serve as a stepping stone to crew missions on the Red Planet in the 2030s.)
The current text of the Accord is not necessarily final; Amendments may be made as needed in the future, Bridenstein and Gould said.
The Artemis program counts significant contributions from private industry as well as international partners. For example, the astronaut that takes astronauts to the lunar surface Will be a commercial vehicle Built by a team led by SpaceX, Dynamics or Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin.
Mike Wall, author of “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tait), a book about the discovery of alien life. Follow her on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.