On the way to the Moon: France signs the Artemis agreements

The France is therefore the 20th country to sign the Artemis agreements, this major lunar exploration program (but not only) designed and piloted mainly by the American space agency. Philippe Baptiste, the president of CNES, went to the United States to initial this agreement under the benevolent eye of Bill Nelson, the current administrator of NASA. The Artemis agreements lay down the global charter for the next peaceful exploratory missions to the Moon, Mars, but also comets or asteroids.

In detail, the signatories of the Artemis agreements undertake to share with the group of 20 the scientific data collected during space missions, not to use this data for non-peaceful purposes, not to appropriate the territories explored ( on the Moon and after tomorrow on Mars), and to be transparent about their end goals. The agreements also oblige the signatory countries to assist each other in the event of an emergency and to propose technological solutions that are as environmentally friendly as possible.

Unsurprisingly in the current context, Russia and China have refused to sign these agreements. Finally, and as a reminder, NASA’s SLS, the heavy launcher which is to take part in the Artemis 1 mission, is currently on its launch pad awaiting the final general verification tests.