The Artemis Accords represent a political commitment to a set of practical principles. (file)
One of the "most substantive" outcomes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden state visit to the US relates to new frontiers in space, as highlighted by both The White House and the Indian Foreign Secretary.
India has signed the Artemis Accords, a US-led effort to send humans to the moon again by 2025, with the ultimate goal of expanding space exploration to Mars and beyond.
"India joins 26 other countries committed to peaceful, sustainable, and transparent cooperation that will enable exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. NASA will provide advanced training to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) astronauts with the goal of launching a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024," a White House statement said.
The purpose of these Accords, which are not legally binding instruments, to establish a common vision via a practical set of principles, guidelines, and best practices to enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space with the intention of advancing the Artemis program. These apply to civil space activities -- which may take place on the moon, Mars, comets, asteroids, including their surfaces and sub surfaces, as well as in orbit of the Moon or Mars, in the "lagrangian points" for the Earth-Moon system, and in transit between these celestial bodies and locations -- conducted by the civil space agencies of each signatory.
This is intended to increase the safety of operations, reduce uncertainty, and promote the sustainable and beneficial use of space for all humankind. The accords represent a political commitment to the principles, many of which provide for operational implementation of important obligations contained in the Outer Space.
The main principles state all activities will be conducted for peaceful purposes, partners will uphold the transparency principle by publicly describing policies and plans, and utilise open international standards, develop new standards when necessary, and strive to support interoperability. It also asks partners to commit to taking all reasonable steps possible to render assistance to astronauts in distress, commit to determine which of them should register a relevant space object in accordance with the Registration Convention, and release their scientific data publicly to ensure that the entire world can benefit from the Artemis journey.
It also states that partner nations will commit to the protection of sites and artefacts with historic value. Furthermore, it highlights that outer space is not subject to national appropriation, states bear the international responsibility for space activities, states are to inform the UN about their space activities, and partner nations will provide public information regarding the location and general nature of operations which will inform the scale and scope of 'Safety Zones'.
To avoid harmful interference, partner nations are to act in a manner that is consistent with the principles reflected in the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS).
26 countries have partnered in the Artemis Accord, with Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, UAE, UK, and USA being the founders.
Out of 22 European nations, only eight -- Luxembourg, Italy, UK, Romania, Poland, France, Czech Republic, and Spain -- have signed the accords.
New Partners include African nations like Rwanda, and Nigeria.
NASA and the ISRO are developing a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation by the end of 2023. India has approved a $318 million investment to construct a Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory in India-that will work in tandem with similar facilities in the United States, Europe, and Japan to look for ripples in space-time, known as gravitational waves, that provide insights into the physical origins of the universe, the White House statement said.