India signs Artemis Accords: What does it mean and why is it significant?

Grounded in the Outer Space Treaty (OST), the Artemis Accords, established in 2020, are a non-binding set of principles designed to guide civil space exploration and use in the 21st century. The accords are closely associated with the US’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis programme, which is NASA's initiative to return humans to the Moon.

What is the Outer Space Treaty?

The OST from 1967 is an international treaty that serves as the cornerstone of space law. It promotes peaceful exploration and use of outer space for the benefit of all humankind.

It establishes a legal framework for the activities of states in outer space and prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space. It also prohibits the establishment of military bases, testing of any weapons and conducting military manoeuvres on celestial bodies, including the Moon.

What led to the Artemis Accords?

The formation of the Artemis Accords is deeply related to the concept of space mining and extraction of resources.

“When the OST was signed in 1967, there were no explicit clauses on how to deal with space mining or space resources, because there were doubts on whether it would ever become viable. At that time, it was laid out that outer space or other celestial bodies cannot be subject to appropriation by claim of national sovereignty. For the US, this was, by and large, acceptable, because even the US thinking at that time was that extracting resources from the Moon or asteroids is very complex,” Pranav Satyanath, a research associate at New Delhi-based Council for Strategic and Defense Research (CSDR) working on space policy, told Moneycontrol.

However, there was a change observed in the US narrative of dealing with space resources when in 1978 the Moon Treaty was brought in.

“The Moon Treaty had all-encompassing language like, 'The Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind.’ There was a lot of lobbying from the United States, which essentially said that they did not accept the language of the Moon Treaty, that it was very socialist in nature. Ultimately, the Americans rejected the Moon Treaty,” Satyanath said.

Over the years, Satyanath said, that since the OST did not have any explicit clauses on how to deal with space mining or extraction, the US started building up an interpretation “which said one cannot claim the land on which the resources are there but can extract those resources and own them”.

Satyanath recalls that those lobbying against the Moon Treaty in the 1970s became very prominent officials in the US administration later. “Scott Pace, who was in the Trump administration as the executive secretary of the National Space Council, was of the opinion that Americans needed something that was different from the Moon Treaty but was grounded in the (American interpretation of the) OST. This eventually led to the formation of the Artemis Accords.”

What do the Artemis Accords say?

Grounded in the tenets of the OST, the Artemis Accords outline a framework for international collaboration in space exploration, focusing on areas such as peaceful purposes, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, sustainable resource utilisation, and the preservation of heritage sites.

Especially in the context of utilising space resources, the Artemis Accords says, “The ability to extract and utilise resources on the Moon, Mars, and asteroids will be critical to support safe and sustainable space exploration and development.”

“The Artemis Accords reinforce that space resource extraction and utilisation can and will be conducted under the auspices of the Outer Space Treaty, with specific emphasis on Articles II, VI, and XI,” it adds.

Apart from India, who are its signatories?

Those who have signed on to the Artemis Accords include Australia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Nigeria, Rwanda, Ukraine, Bahrain, Ecuador, Japan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, France, Luxembourg, South Korea, Singapore, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Romania, Spain, Colombia, Israel and New Zealand, apart from, of course, the US.

Why is India’s signing significant?

Though Artemis represents a certain interpretation of the OST, it is not a binding treaty in itself. However, signing it would mean that India can now be seen as subscribing to the American interpretation of the OST, Ashok GV of Factum Law said.

Ashok said, “This can be taken both positively and negatively. People who want India to take a slightly pragmatic view on things like mining on the Moon may see this as a positive spin on things because, for the first time, India is not being very normative and is moving towards a realpolitik kind of approach.

“On the other side of the spectrum, this could be seen as India abandoning the idealistic principles that we've always believed in when it comes to space. The idealistic principles that space should not be for profit, colonisation of space should be avoided, etc,” Ashok explained.

It is important to remember that India's recently-released space policy has taken a similar stand in favour of the American interpretation of the OST.
The Indian Space Policy says that private players can engage in the commercial recovery of an asteroid or a space resource. “Any NGE (non-governmental entity) engaged in such a process shall be entitled to possess, own, transport, use and sell any such asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of India,” the policy stated.

What could be the benefits of this signing for India?

Space and defence expert Omkar Nikam said, “Now India will be much more open to international collaborations and open to exploring uncharted territories. There have been several restrictions in the past with Indian companies unable to do business in the European region. But now, this will be much more open and collaborations will be much more accessible.”

Ashok of Factum Law said, “I think the signing of the accord does represent certain advantages. For example, US export control is always a huge concern. So whenever technology has to come from the US to India, export control can play a big spoilsport. So I think the signing of the Artemis Accords could possibly liberalise some of those technology transfer hurdles that are there between the US and India.”

“It also opens up markets for Indian companies with all the other signatories of the Artemis Accords. So you might start to see some traction in terms of joint ventures between Indian companies and American companies trying to do business in space,” he added.

Pawan Kumar Chandana, CEO and co-founder of Hyderabad-based space tech start-up Skyroot Aerospace said, "Artemis Accord is all about committing to a common understanding and vision for peaceful exploration of outer space. India signing the accords would benefit our space exploration ambitions under the new space policy mainly through international collaboration as all signatories to the accords commit to the open sharing of scientific data and assist each other in the efforts. This also would extend these benefits of collaboration to Indian startups who are an active part of our space ecosystem."

What could be its pitfalls?

The France-based space and defence expert Nikam also sees India’s signing the Artemis Accords in the larger geopolitical context of the US' political equation with China and Russia.

“The discussion of Artemis started from the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue). And the Quad has started gaining prominence to counter China in the Pacific region,” said Nikam. The Quad is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan and the US.

“So Artemis will definitely be a way for the United States to utilise India as a regional security navigator,” he said.

This may prove to be restrictive, because when it comes to developments in space, India has never had an agreement or alliance with any country, Nikam opined. “We had a close relationship with Russia, but we never had a formal alliance with the country,” Nikam elaborated.

The non-alliance stance of India drove it to have a self-reliant space programme, whose success is reflected in the high success rate of its launches, he said.

“Now with Artemis, there will definitely be some restrictions. Because it is not just a collaboration with the United States, but also with several other countries. So before we take any kind of decisions on matters, our diplomatic instruments need to make sure that it doesn't affect our domestic market,” he explained.