Beginning on June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to the US. During his first state visit, PM Modi will speak with President Joe Biden about enhancing trade and investment links as well as building tighter ties in the technology sector, which includes manufacturing, telecom, and space. India is being invited to join the Artemis team by the US space agency NASA, which aims to bring like-minded nations together for civil space exploration. According to NASA, numerous nations and private businesses are carrying out missions in order for a standard set of guidelines to govern civil exploration.
These are the non-binding multilateral agreements between the American government and other international countries taking part in the Artemis programme, an American-led initiative to send people back to the Moon by the year 2025.
The Artemis program’s ultimate goal is to advance space exploration to Mars and beyond.
The Artemis Accords were founded in 2020 by NASA, the US Department of State, and the other seven founding members.
The Artemis Accords’ guiding principles
Instead of being signed at an organisational level, the accords are signed at the national level, and nations do so voluntarily.
The Outer Space Treaty, officially known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, was signed in 1967 and is one of the founding principles of the Artemis Accords.
These agreements confirm the significance of the Rescue and Return Agreement, which was made available for signature on April 22, 1968.
The first in-person gathering of the delegates of the signatory nations took place on September 19, 2022, during the International Astronautical Congress in Paris.
In the documents describing the agreements, NASA claims that they are intended for peaceful space exploration and calls on signatories to pledge to provide emergency assistance, register their space objects, and notify the UN and general public about resource extraction activities. It also urges nations to be transparent in their activities.
The Artemis Accords have been signed by 25 countries through May 30, 2023, according to the US State Department website, which co-leads the accords with NASA. Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, France, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America are among them.
India will sign the Accords as the 26th party if it joins the Artemis team. India is a global power and one of the few nations having its own independent access to space, so the US is eager to get it on board.
Bhavya Lal, the assistant administrator for technology, policy, and strategy in the NASA Administrator’s office, expressed hope last week that India would join the group that searches for asteroids and comets that could strike Earth and create a lot of disruption.
India and the US recently set up a human space flight working group under their Initiative of Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) Dialogue.
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