WASHINGTON — Two more countries have signed the U.S.-led Artemis Accords outlining best practices in space exploration, one of which did so with no fanfare.
At a Nov. 1 ceremony in Washington, the Netherlands signed the Artemis Accords. Harm van de Wetering, director of the Netherlands Space Office, signed the document at the event attended by NASA and National Space Council officials and the Dutch ambassador to the United States.
“NASA and the Netherlands have been strong partners in space from the early days of spaceflight. Pushing boundaries by technology brings new responsibilities. By signing the Artemis Accords, we underline the values we share in space, and we acknowledge we have a common responsibility,” van de Wetering said in a statement.
The Netherlands had been expected to sign the Accords. In an Oct. 2 statement, Micky Adriaansens, the government’s economic affairs and climate policy minister, said that the Netherlands would sign the Accords while investing 22.2 million euros ($23.6 million) to modernize the European Space Research and Technology Centre, a European Space Agency center in the country.
NASA announced the Artemis Accords in 2020 as a means to outline best practices in safe and responsible space exploration. The document largely builds upon the Outer Space Treaty and other international agreements on topics from registration of space objects and interoperability to utilization of space resources.
The signatories of the Accords met last month at the International Astronautical Congress to discuss progress on two working groups. One is examining how to improve transparency in lunar exploration missions to avoid harmful interference, while the other is examining how to engage other nations to join to the Accords.
“As one of America’s oldest allies, NASA is proud to expand our partnership with the Netherlands and build a future defined by limitless opportunity and discovery,” NASA Administrator Bill…
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