Two more countries have signed NASA's Artemis Accords.
This last week, South Korea and New Zealand both signed the Artemis Accords, an international treaty establishing a framework for cooperation in space exploration. The Artemis Accords were drafted by NASA and the United States government in 2020. They support and expand on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Signatories of the Artemis Accords agree, among other things, to protect space heritage, share scientific data, use space for peaceful purposes only, and to avoid creating more space debris. Read more about the Artemis Accords, on my website, or on NASA's.
Unlike during the Apollo program, NASA is working with many different countries countries to return humans to the moon. These countries include the ones that have signed the Artemis Accords. With the 2 new signatories this last week, there are now 11 signatory nations. These nations are the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Luxemburg, Italy, Ukraine, the UAE, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
South Korea
The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), is the South Korean space agency, it was founded in 1989. In 2013, after two unsuccessful attempts, South Korea launched their first satellite into orbit on a Naro rocket. South Korea is currently building a successor to Naro called Nuri. Nuri will have 3 stages, which will be powered by jet fuel and liquid oxygen. Since 2014, KARI has been working with NASA to develop a robotic lunar mission to study potential lunar resources. The mission is currently scheduled for launch in 2022 onboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The data collected by the South Korean moon mission could be very useful to future moon colonizers.
New Zealand
I predicted on my website that New Zealand might join the Artemis Accords! New Zealand seemed like a logical choice since they are a US ally, and have a space agency. The New Zealand Space Agency began operations in 2016. Since then, they have focused on increasing commercial space-related activities in New Zealand. This seems to have been successful, as the company rocket Lab currently launches their Electron rocket from the Mahia peninsula on New Zealand's northern island.
I have a page on my website all about the Artemis Accords, I will update it with this new information in a few days.
Read more about the Artemis Accords on NASA's website.
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