Returning Together

When NASA landed the first humans on the moon during the Apollo program, they did it alone. It was done entirely by the United States, but that will not happen this time. NASA wants to land the next people on the moon in 2025, and this time, they are not doing it on there own.

The Accords

The Artemis Accords

NASA is gathering a group of space agencies, companies, and organizations that will work together to send people to the moon in a sustainable way. To make international cooperation easier the United States has written an international treaty called the Artemis Accords. So far, 21 countries have signed it. These countries will work with NASA to develop manned and robotic missions to explore the moon.

Signatories of the Artemis Accords agree to multiple non-binding standards. The standards help make cooperation between different countries easier and to make space a better place. The treaty builds on existing international agreements, including the Outer Space Treaty.

Signatories agree to:

To use space for peaceful purposes only and avoid conflicts
To be transparent about what they are doing
To use interoperable and standardized systems on all spacecraft
To assist astronauts who are in emergency situations
To preserve historic sites in space, such as the Apollo landing sites
To avoid creating additional space debris
To share scientific data
To register all space items with the proper organizations
Agree that gathering and returning resources from space ('space mining') is essential for space exploration

What is the Artemis Program?

The Artemis Program is a program led by NASA to return humans to the moon. The program will use the Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft, commercially operated Human Landing Systems (HLS), and the Lunar Gateway to create a sustained presence on and around the moon.

Artemis

This map, which was made using Mapchart.net, show signatories of the Artemis Accords and International Lunar Base partners as of January 2022. Two different groups are emerging, and we may be beginning to see the start of a new space race. A race to colonize the moon. Credit: Cosmic Technology

Map

Signatories

Artemis Accord Signatories

There are 8 founding members of the Artemis Accords, the USA, Canada, the UK, Luxembourg, Italy, the UAE, Japan, and Australia. Most of these countries are close allies with the US and have teamed up with NASA on space missions before.

Since then, Ukraine, South Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Bahrain, Singapore, Columbia, France, and Saudi Arabia have also signed the Artemis Accords.

The first meeting of these nations was held in Paris in September 2022. They discussed exploration plans, and agreed that they should meet regularly.

The Accords don’t clearly say that participating countries are going to collaborate on the Artemis program, but says that there should be more collaboration in space exploration. Many of the countries that signed the accords are helping NASA by building components for the Lunar Gateway, making robotic spacecraft, and developing technologies.

Key Artemis Program Members

The United States is leading the Artemis program. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is paying for the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion’s crew module, the Human Landing System (HLS) and most of the other parts of the Artemis program. NASA is organizing the Artemis program and funding most of the program.

Canada was one of the original signatories of the Artemis Accords and are a key partner in the Lunar Gateway. They are a member of the ISS program, and have a notable space program. They have collaborated with NASA many times in the past. Canada built a robotic arm for the space shuttle, Canadarm. An upgraded version of the arm, Canadarm2, is used on the ISS. Canada will build Canadarm3 for the Lunar Gateway and a small robotic rover. They will in exchange get to send two Canadian astronauts on missions around the moon.

22 European countries make up the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA is a key partner in the Artemis Program. They are providing the Service Module for the Orion spacecraft and some of the modules for the Lunar Gateway.

ESA hopes to eventually land a European on the moon.

Five of the countries that make up ESA, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Romania, Poland, and Italy, have already signed the Artemis Accords. Many of the other member states of ESA will likely sign the Accords soon.

Japan's space agency, JAXA, frequently works with NASA. They are a major contributor to the Artemis Program. They are working with ESA to build the International Habitat module for the Lunar Gateway, and also might launch resupply missions to the Gateway. They have also talked with Toyota about developing a pressurized electric moon rover to carry astronauts.

International Lunar Research Base (ILRS)

China and Russia are developing their own plan to rival the Artemis program, the International Lunar Research Base (ILRS). ILRS is a plan by China and Russia to build a joint manned lunar base on the surface of the moon. The plan was announced in March 2021. This lunar base is still in the early design phase, and is planned to be built in the early 2030's. Both nations have invited other space agencies to join them in building the ILRS, but no countries have officially committed. The European Space Agency has seemed interested.

The first phase of the ILRS will involve robotic missions by both Russia and China. China has been launching robotic moon missions since 2007. This culminated with China becoming the second nation to robotically return lunar rocks to Earth with their Chang'e 5 mission in 2020. China plans to launch another sample return mission in 2024.

Russia also plans to launch robotic missions to the moon, beginning with Luna 26 later in 2022.

After these first robotic missions, pressurized modules will be landed on the moon that can be connected to form a manned lunar base.

I think that this concept is a good idea. If China and Russia commit funding to it then they can create something that rivals the Artemis Program. I think that this will end up being good for space exploration because it will create competition, which will motivate governments to fund exploration of the moon.

Representatives from 8 countries were the first to sign the Artemis Accords on October 13th, 2020. They met virtually at an International Astronomical Congress meeting. Japan is shown here twice because two different government authorities signed the Accords.

Other Signatories

Australia, one of the founding signatories of the Accords, recently started a space agency. They will collaborate with NASA to make a small robotic rover that will land on the moon around 2026. The Deep Space Network (DSN), which has multiple communication antennas in Australia, will be essential for communicating with manned Artemis missions.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a space program that recently gained international attention by sending their Hope mission to Mars. They are working with the company ispace to land a scientific rover on the moon this year.

The Isle of Man, a self-governing territory of the United Kingdom, has also signed the Accords. The Isle of Man has fewer than 100,000 people. I think that is rather interesting. The Isle of Man didn't really sign, they just got the responsibilities extended to them from the United Kingdom. They have no space program that I know of.

Ukraine signed the Artemis Accords exactly one month after the first nations did on November 12th, 2020. Ukraine has decades of experience with spaceflight stemming from their Soviet Union heritage. However, I don't think they will be cooperating much with NASA for now because they currently have much, much bigger things to worry about.

South Korea is a rising space power that recently debuted their Nuri rocket. In 2022, their first interplanetary probe, Danuri, will be launched to the moon. Danuri will study the geology and lunar ice of the Moon's surface, which will help NASA and other groups plan locations for robotic and manned missions.

New Zealand has a small space agency that focuses on developing the local space industry. They signed the Accords in May 2021, shortly after South Korea signed.

On December 9th, 2021 Mexico signed the Artemis Accords. They have a small space agency and are leading the foundation of an international Latin American space agency. An instrument built by Mexico will be on NASA's first CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) lunar landing mission.

A recent Accords signer, Israel, is one of the few countries capable of launching rockets. They contributed to NASA's unmanned Artemis 1 mission by providing two experimental radiation vests.

Bahrain signed the Artemis Accords on March 2nd, 2022. They are the third Middle-Eastern country to sign the Accords. Bahrain has a small space agency that recently deployed their first satellite, Light-1. Light-1 is studying gamma rays in Earth's atmosphere.

Singapore, an island nation in Southeast Asia, signed the Artemis Accords on March 28th, 2022. Singapore is a wealthy country with a small space industry.

On May 10th, 2022 Columbia became the second South American country to sign.

After discussing signing the Artemis Accords in the fall of 2021, France finally signed on June 7th, 2022. In addition to being a major funder of ESA, France has there own space agency, CNES. CNES is one of the oldest space agencies in the world.

Saudi Arabia became the 21st nation to sign the Artemis Accords on July 14th, 2022. They have a modest space program and recently purchased seats to send two astronauts on brief trips to the ISS with Axiom Space.

Potential Signatories

I think more and more countries will join the Artemis Accords over the next few years. Most of them will probably be US allies that are interested in space exploration. Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, and Indonesia are some examples. I think most, if not all of the ESA member states will sign the Accords.

One country that I think could contribute substantially to the Artemis program is India. India's space agency, ISRO, has sent spacecraft to the Moon and Mars, and are currently building a manned spacecraft. However, I think it is unlikely that India will contribute anything large to the Artemis program.

Close allies of Russia and China, such as Belarus, North Korea, and Iran, might collaborate on the ILRS. Some of the Artemis Accords signatories, especially European countries, might also join the program.

I personally doubt that the ILRS concept will go anywhere in the near future. Its just an idea, and no detailed plans have been made. Russia's space program has also suffered many problems in recent years because of corruption and lack of funds.

Conclusion

I hope that this page is informative and interesting. International cooperation gets me really excited, which is why I find the Artemis Accords so fascinating. NASA is working with many other countries to return humans to the moon. This benefits NASA in many ways, it decreases the chance of the program being cancelled, it lowers costs, and benefits other countries immensely by giving them a chance to develop pieces of space technology.

I think that countries will look back decades from now and see the Artemis Accords as a revolutionary treaty. When numerous countries are performing manned spaceflights and lunar landings, having consistent standards will be useful. Using interoperable systems on spacecraft could be essential to saving lives in emergencies. The Apollo 13 astronauts nearly died because some of the systems on the lunar lander and command module were incompatible. The Accords will become more relevant with time.

The more important thing that the Artemis Accords are doing is united countries. Countries that have never even sent a human to space are now getting an opportunity to assist in the human return to the Moon. They are taking part in the most in-depth study of the Moon ever to be performed. They are taking part in the future.