India has decided to join Artemis Accords, the first agreement signed on PM Modi’s recent visit to the US. Space agencies of both countries, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have also agreed on a joint space mission in 2024, the White House confirmed on Thursday. This decision will bring the two countries’ space programs closer than ever before.
Artemis Mission
NASA’s Artemis Mission is considered the next-generation lunar exploration mission. It is named after the twin sister of Apollo from Greek mythology. Apollo 11, which was a historical mission, sent humans to the Moon for the first time. Now under Artemis Mission, NASA aims to send humans again to the moon by 2024 and this time it also plans to land the first woman and first person of colour on the moon. NASA plans to establish an Artemis base camp on the surface of the Moon for astronauts to stay on Moon for longer.
What are Artemis Accords?
The Artemis Accords are built on the foundation of the Outer Space treaty of 1967 (OST). It was established in 2020. These are a non-binding set of 13 principles designed to guide civil space exploration and use in the 21st century. It seeks to promote peaceful and cooperative exploration of space. Spearheaded by the United States, Artemis Accord is to bring like-minded countries together on civil space exploration.
Countries joining, mostly commit to agreements like not using space for military purposes. They promise to cooperate in matters of the safety of space and astronauts and are willing to share scientific data from their space missions.
Many countries have already signed this agreement, but now India is going to play a significant role in this mission. Russia and China do not recognize Artemis Accords. To counter Artemis Accord, they have created their own system, which is led by China.
Joint Astronauts mission
In a related development, the ISRO will partner with the NASA of the US in sending a joint mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024. ISS is a permanent laboratory in space. India was far from ISS till now. It was not a part of its making nor did India send an astronaut to ISS yet. But now India will also play a role in ISS.
India’s astronaut candidates will be the ones who have been training for Gaganyaan, India’s first spaceflight mission. With the schedule of Gaganyaan still uncertain, astronauts will now be traveling to ISS on this joint mission next year. NASA announced that it will train Indian astronauts at their Johnson Space Centre in Houston Texas keeping ISS 2024 mission in target.
It is also decided that India and US will collaborate on other fields of semiconductors, critical minerals, AI and quantum space.
