In a ceremony held at the Intercontinental Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. on June 21, 2023, the Republic of India became the 27th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, demonstrating its commitment to sustainable and transparent space activity. Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Sandhu signed on behalf of the Government of the Republic of India.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Director Valda Vikmanis-Keller of the State Department’s Office of Space Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary Nancy Jackson of the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, Associate Administrator Karen Feldstein for International and Interagency Relations at NASA, Director Sean Wilson of the National Space Council’s International Space Policy, and Assistant Director Matthew Daniels of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, participated on behalf of the Government of the United States. Ambassador Sandhu, Administrator Nelson, and Deputy Assistant Secretary Jackson delivered remarks noting the significance of India signing the Artemis Accords.
The Artemis Accords, which are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, are a set of non-legally binding principles to guide sustainable civil space exploration. These principles, which include transparency, peaceful purposes, registering of space objects and release of scientific data, help make the space environment safer and more predictable, and allow all nations - even those without space programs - to benefit from the scientific data obtained in space.
From the original eight nations in 2020, Artemis Accords signatories now hail from every part of the globe and possess a variety of space capabilities and interests. By working together, we can advance the beneficial use of outer space for all humankind.
The Artemis Accords signatories are: Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
For more information, please visit the Artemis Accords website at https://www.state.gov/artemis-accords/. For media inquiries, please contact OES-PA-DG@state.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs