INDIA
AND ARTEMIS ACCORD - SCI & TECH
News:
Explained | Artemis
Accords, India-US space collaboration and how it relates to ISRO’s missions
What's
in the news?
●
‘Even
the sky is not the limit,’ declared Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, while announcing that India has decided to join the Artemis Accords,
marking a leap in Indo-US space cooperation.
Key
takeaways:
●
India has decided to join the ‘Artemis
Accords’ led by the United States of America — an effort to put humans back on the moon by 2025.
Joint
Statement:
●
As per the joint statement released by the
White House, the two nations’ space agencies — National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) — will jointly send Indian astronauts, trained at
the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to the International Space Station
(ISS) in 2024.
●
The statement also mentions India’s
signing of the Artemis Accords to advance a common vision of space exploration
for the benefit of all humankind.
Artemis
Accords:
●
Based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967
(OST), the Artemis Accords were established by the U.S. State Department and NASA with seven other founding members
— Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, and
the United Kingdom in 2020.
Objective:
●
Setting up common principles to govern civil exploration and use of outer
space, the moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids, for peaceful purposes.
Members:
●
The 27
signatories to the Artemis Accords are the US, Australia, Canada, Italy,
Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the U.K, Ukraine, South Korea, New
Zealand, Brazil, Poland, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Bahrain, Singapore, Colombia,
France, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Czech Republic, Spain, Ecuador, and now,
India.
Commitments
under the Accords:
●
Under the Artemis Accords, the signatories
will implement memorandum of understanding (MOUs) between governments or
agencies to conduct space activities for
peaceful purposes in accordance with international law.
●
They are committed to share national space policies transparently with one another and
scientific information resulting from their activities with the public and the
international scientific community on a good-faith basis.
●
The signatories recognise common exploration infrastructure including fuel storage
and delivery systems, landing structures, communications systems, and power
systems to enhance scientific discovery and commercial utilisation.
●
The members will have to render necessary assistance to personnel in
outer space who are in distress.
●
All relevant space objects must be registered by the signatories and they must
openly share scientific data in a timely fashion.
●
Private
sectors are exempted from sharing scientific data
unless they are performing space activities on behalf of a signatory.
●
The members are expected to preserve outer space heritage, including
historic human or robotic landing sites, artefacts and evidence of activity on
celestial bodies.
●
The utilisation
of space resources, including recoveries from the surface of the moon,
Mars, comets, or asteroids should be done in support of safe and sustainable
space activities.
●
The usage
of such resources by a signatory must not interfere with that of another
signatory and information regarding the location and nature of space-based
activities must be shared to avoid this.
●
Signatories must notify and coordinate
with one another to create a ‘safety
zone’ to avoid any such interference.
●
Members must plan for mitigation of orbital debris, including safe and timely
disposal of spacecraft at the end of missions. They must also limit the
generation of new, long-lived harmful debris to a minimum.
Non-binding
commitments:
●
The accord leaps out non-binding
commitments on member countries for space exploration of the moon, Mars and
beyond.
●
The principles under these Accords must be
periodically reviewed and potential areas of future cooperation must be
discussed.
ISRO's
Role in Artemis Accord:
●
With India signing the Artemis Accords, it
will be a part of the US’ attempt to land humans on the moon by 2025.
●
ISRO is likely to collaborate on further
Artemis missions including the Lunar
Gateway, Mars landing and establishing a permanent lunar base.
●
India
also aims to establish its own space station similar to the
ISS and China’s Tiangong space station.
Significance
to India:
1.
Technological Collaboration:
●
Participation in the Artemis program would
offer opportunities for collaboration,
knowledge-sharing, and technology transfer between Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) and NASA.
2.
Scientific Research:
●
India's participation would provide its
scientists and researchers with access
to lunar samples and data, enabling them to contribute to scientific
discoveries related to the Moon's geology, resources, and potential for future
human settlements.
3.
Space Industry Growth:
●
Involvement in the development of
technologies, such as lunar landers, habitats, and rovers, could enhance India's capabilities and
competitiveness in the global space sector.
4.
International Relations:
●
Enhanced international relations could
bring diplomatic, economic, and strategic advantages to India.
5.
Inspiring the Next Generation:
●
Involvement in the Artemis program would
inspire and motivate Indian students and aspiring scientists to pursue careers
in space exploration and related fields.
6.
Finance for India's space program:
●
Signing the Artemis Accord could provide a
foundation for a more streamlined and
liberal exchange of technology and a flow of capital for India’s space program.
Thus, signing Artemis
Accord provides impetus to India’s aspirations to be a key influencer in
humankind’s efforts to mark its presence on the moon and beyond.
Go
back to basics:
Missions
of Artemis:
The initial three
missions of the programme are Artemis-I, II and III.
Artemis-I:
●
Under Artemis-I, NASA launched its spacecraft ‘Orion’ on its indigenously
built super heavy-lift launch vehicle (SLS) directly to the moon on a single
mission.
●
On November 16, 2022, the SLS carrying
Orion commenced its first uncrewed integrated flight test from NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center, Florida.
●
The Orion completed a lunar flyby,
performing a half revolution around the moon before returning to the earth’s
orbit and splashing down on December 11, 2022, in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis-II:
●
In 2024, NASA’s Artemis-2 programme will
commence, with a crew of four astronauts
onboard the SLS performing multiple manoeuvres on an expanding orbit around the
Earth on the Orion, conducting a lunar flyby and returning to the earth.
●
The crew will perform tests on systems
like communication, life support, and
navigation and perform a proximity operations demonstration which will help
in docking and undocking for Artemis-III.
●
The mission will create history by sending the first woman and person of
colour to land on the moon. Currently, the crew is undergoing training
while different modules of Orion are undergoing tests.
Artemis-III:
●
Under Artemis-III, humans will return to the moon in 2025.
●
This mission will witness the four-member
crew land on the moon, conduct a week-long lunar exploration, perform a lunar
flyby, and return to earth.
Future
Missions:
●
In future missions under the Artemis
programme, NASA aims to land a second
crew on the moon in 2028 and establish a Lunar Gateway station where astronauts
will land in 2029.
●
NASA also aims to set up a permanent base on the lunar surface and
then proceed to send astronauts to Mars.
India’s
Space/Moon Mission:
●
India’s space agency ISRO already had two
programmes — Chandrayaan and Gaganyaan — before the country signed the Artemis
Accords.
Gaganyaan:
●
Under Gaganyaan, ISRO will demonstrate its
capability for human spaceflight to Low
Earth Orbit (LEO) and a safe return to the earth.
●
The mission has two unmanned flights and
one manned flight planned to the ISS.
Chandrayaan-3:
●
India’s second attempt to ‘soft land’ on
the moon — Chandrayaan-3 — is set to launch in mid-July this year.
●
Similar to Chandrayaan-2, India will
attempt to launch an orbiter to the
lunar orbit and land a rover on the south pole of the lunar surface.