Nigeria, Rwanda become 1st African nations to sign Artemis Accords
Nigeria and Rwanda became the first African nations to sign the Artemis Accords this week during the first-ever US-Africa space forum.
The Artemis Accords are a broad, non-binding framework that sets out agreements for responsible and peaceful international exploration of the moon. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the addition of Nigeria and Rwanda to the agreement on the first day of the US-Africa Leadership Summit in Washington DC (December 13-15), which included the first space forum.
The US State Department later issued a statement (opens in new tab) to commemorate the acceptance of Nigeria and Rwanda into the agreement. “Nigeria and Rwanda were the first African nations to sign the Artemis Accords. Participants at the forum, which was part of the US-Africa Leaders Summit, discussed how to advance common goals through the peaceful exploration and exploitation of outer space,” the statement reads.
Related: Artemis Accords: Why the International Framework for Lunar Exploration Matters
The agreements were signed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Ibrahim and on behalf of the Republic of Rwanda by Rwanda Space Agency CEO Francis Ngabo, the statement said.
“Signatories commit to principles to guide their civilian space activities, including the public release of scientific data, responsible debris clearance, registration of space objects, and the establishment and implementation of interoperability standards,” the State Department statement said.
The Artemis Accords were jointly launched by NASA and the US Department of State along with eight nations in 2020 with the announced goal of advancing bilateral and multilateral space cooperation among the signatories. Nigeria and Rwanda joining the lunar coalition means there are now 23 signatories to the agreements that set out principles and best practices for exploration.
The agreements take inspiration for their name from NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon by the late 2020s.
The first countries to sign up were the United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates South Korea In 2021, he will become the first of many to sign during the Biden administration. Other nations such as Russia and China have argued that the deals are far too US-centric and represent a power grab by the US and its allies.
Follow us on Twitter @spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
