DOI: 10.5553/IISL/2023066008007

International Institute of Space LawAccess_open

Artikel

Artemis Accords and Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures (TCBMS) for the Involvement of Small and Medium Space Agencies

Keywords Artemis Accords, space security, space sustainability, transparency, confidence-building measures, commercial space actors
Authors
DOI
Show PDF
Abstract Author's information Statistics
This article has been viewed times.
This article been downloaded 0 times.

    The Artemis Accords are a series of non-binding bilateral agreements forming part of the Artemis campaign launched by NASA and the US Department of State and aimed at exploring space, establishing a permanent presence on the Moon and facilitating human missions to Mars. The Artemis Accords’ aim is to promote outer space exploration for peaceful purposes and can be extremely demanding both in terms of financial and technological capacity, especially for small and medium space agencies and developing countries. Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures (TCBMs), which could help to address these challenges, are lacking in the Accords. This gap is relevant, especially taking into account that various instruments, such as the Guidelines for Long-Term Sustainability of the Outer Space, encourage supporting emerging space countries in pursuing space activities for civil purposes. Nevertheless, as the purpose of these Accords is “to establish a common vision via a practical set of principles, guidelines, and best practices to enhance the governance of the civil exploration”, it is argued that TCBMs can be developed and implemented within the framework of the Artemis Accords. TCBMs are indeed consistent with the principles enshrined in the Artemis Accords, which require signatory countries to, inter alia, transparently and in good faith disseminate information regarding domestic space policies, plans for space exploration, results of the activities carried out under the Artemis missions, in compliance with Article XI of the Outer Space Treaty. This paper discusses how TCBMs can help developing countries to pursue their policy goals in the context of the Artemis campaign and how these measures can be formalized into the context of the Artemis Accords.

Dit artikel wordt geciteerd in


Print this article