New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Thursday that India has agreed to join the Artemis Accords (Accords), a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-led initiative for the peaceful, sustainable and transparent cooperation in space, according to the US Department of State.
“We have agreed to join the Artemis Accords. We have taken a long leap in our space cooperation,” said Prime Minister Modi during a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden late Thursday night. The PM is on a visit to the US.
Based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty between countries, the Accords are a set of principles, which “represent a political commitment…many of which provide for the operational implementation of important obligations contained in the Outer Space Treaty and other instruments,” states Section 1 of the Artemis Accords, available on the NASA website.
Section 1 of the Accords further add that the principles apply to the civil space activities specifically, “conducted by the civil space agencies of each signatory”. The principles apply to any activities undertaken on the Moon, Mars, comets, asteroids, including the surfaces and sub-surfaces.
Any activities undertaken in the orbit around the Moon, Mars or in the Lagrangian points of the Earth-Moon system — Lagrangian points are positions in space where objects sent tend to stay put, according to NASA — and also in transit between these celestial bodies are covered under the principles of the Accords.
The Artemis Accords were launched on 13 October, 2020, with eight founding members, namely, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Ecuador was the 26th nation to sign the accords on 21 June, 2023, before Prime Minister Modi announced India’s agreement to join the accords.
ThePrint looks at what makes the Artemis Accords and why they matter.
Also read: From jet engines to drones, space and 6G – Big takeaways from PM Modi’s US visit
Principles of the Artemis Accords
Former Indian Air Force officer, Group Captain Ajey Lele, a consultant with the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, explained to ThePrint that these accords were voluntary and had no legally binding provisions.
There are 10 principles to the Accords, namely the peaceful purposes for exploration of space, transparency in the dissemination of the space policies of the signatories and space exploration plans and the development of interoperable and common exploration infrastructure and standards.
The signatories to the Accords also agree to render any emergency assistance in outer space and acknowledge the obligations under the Rescue and Return Agreement — an agreement on the rescue and return of astronauts and the return of objects launched into outer space — and the registration of space objects under the Registration Convention.
The Registration Convention is a mechanism to assist countries in identifying space objects.
The Accords also have provisions on the sharing of scientific data, both from its own activities and coordinated activities with other signatories, preserving outer space heritage, extraction and utilisation of resources from space, deconfliction of outer space and the commitment to plan for the mitigation of orbital debris.
Aspects of the Artemis Accords
“The Artemis Accords has two aspects, first the Moon and Mars mission under the Artemis programme and secondly a creation of a rules-based mechanism for the exploration of space,” Lele told ThePrint.
He added: “The [Artemis] Accords are a global standards-setting agreement, with the standards decided by the United States of America. The Accords itself does not give India immediate access to any new technology or programme, but opens the door for future bilateral agreements in space cooperation.”
In the first aspect described by Lele, under the Artemis missions, NASA is planning to land the first woman and the first person of colour on the Moon. The ambitious Artemis missions include the construction of the Artemis base camp on the surface of the Moon, and the construction and operationalisation of the Gateway — a multipurpose outpost (space station) orbiting the Moon — apart from sending a person to the Moon.
Through collaboration with its commercial and international partners, NASA is aiming to establish its first long-term presence on the Moon. From its learnings from the Moon, NASA is aiming to send the first human to Mars.
Lele told ThePrint that signing the Accords does not stop India from cooperating with space agencies outside of the Artemis missions. Russia and China are not signatories to the Accords.
Gunjan Singh, an assistant professor at the O.P. Jindal Global University explained to ThePrint how being a part of multilateral agreements like the Artemis Accords gives countries a “seat at an exclusive table” that would set the global standard for space exploration.
Singh further explained that the Gulf War — an armed campaign waged by 39 nations in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990-91 — underlined the strategy and benefits from a space programme and this led to powers like China, Russia and the US to expand their space programmes.
“From a geo-political perspective, being a part of such agreements helps countries safeguard their interests better and through collaboration understand the full spectrum of opportunities available in space,” she added.
In the joint statement released Thursday, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi also announced that NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have agreed to develop a “strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation” by the end of this year. NASA also announced that Indian astronauts will be provided with advanced training at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, a decision hailed by the two leaders.
India will also be launching the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite in 2024. The satellite, a part of a NASA-ISRO joint project is said to feature the most advanced radar system ever launched on a NASA space mission according to NASA.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: From unusual state dinner with Obama to ‘Howdy, Modi!’ — a look at Modi’s past 7 US visits