Panama and Austria have become the 49th and 50th countries to officially join the Artemis Accords. The signing ceremonies took place at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC.
The Artemis Accords are a series of bilateral agreements between the U.S. government and other countries based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. They define the basic principles of cooperation to be followed in outer space and on the various bodies of the Solar System. The agreements cover a wide range of different issues, from the exchange of scientific data to the use of space resources and the harmonization of activities.
It is worth noting that formally the Accords are not legally binding. But it is easy to see that they delineate a circle of countries that share common values and follow a common civilizational path.
Initially, the Artemis Accords were signed by eight countries (this happened in 2020). Since then, their number has been steadily increasing. Just this year alone, 17 countries have joined them. In total, as of December 2024, the U.S. lunar coalition consists of 50 countries. Their list includes the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, India, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Armenia, and almost all European states, including Ukraine. Almost certainly, this is not the final figure, and the number of participants in the Accords will increase in the future.
Not surprisingly, China is trying to build its own space coalition to counterbalance the US. This activity is carried out within the framework of the Agreement on Participation in the International Lunar Research Station Project. So far, the Celestial Empire’s success in building its lunar coalition is noticeably more modest. To date, 13 countries have joined. In addition to China, these are Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Serbia, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela, Kazakhstan and Senegal.
