WASHINGTON — Belgium has signed the Artemis Agreement, which outlines best practices for responsible behavior in space exploration, becoming the latest major European space power to join.
At a ceremony on the sidelines of the European Space Conference in Brussels on January 23, Belgian Foreign Minister Haja Rabib and Secretary of State for Science Policy Thomas Delmine announced the Artemis Accord on behalf of the Belgian government. signed.Belgium ranks 34thth The country as a whole and so far will sign the document for the first time in 2024.
The Artemis Accords, announced by the United States in 2020, outline best practices for responsible behavior in space exploration, building on the principles of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. The non-binding document outlines steps signatories must follow, from registering space objects and publishing scientific data to using space resources and avoiding collisions in space operations.
“The signing of the Artemis Accords reflects our continued commitment to a sustainable and responsible space and strengthens our relationships with our international partners,” Rahbib said in a statement. “It also opens up new economic opportunities for our company, which has world-renowned expertise in the space sector.”
“Signing the Artemis Accord is part of our cooperative approach and will enable Belgium to join the working group of countries that have signed the agreement,” Dermin said in a statement.
He added that the signing of the agreement is “also a necessary and important condition for the possibility of Belgian astronauts participating in manned lunar exploration missions under the Artemis program.” ESA currently has one Belgian astronaut, Raphaël Liégeois, who has been selected for the agency’s 2022 class.
Belgium is a major contributor to the European Space Agency, pledging 946 million euros ($1.03 billion) over three years at the 2022 ministerial meeting, joining Germany and France among member states. , the fifth largest after Italy and the UK. It was the largest contributor to the ESA not participating in the Artemis Accord.
With Belgium’s signature, 12 of the 22 ESA member states have now joined the Artemis Accord, along with 11 of the 27 European Union member states.
“We are excited that Belgium will be the first country to sign the Artemis Accord in 2024,” said Mike Gold, chief growth officer at Redwire and a former NASA employee who spearheaded the agreement’s development. said. He pointed to Redwire’s facility near Antwerp, Belgium (formerly QinetiQ Space), where it is building the docking mechanism for the Lunar Gateway’s I-Hab international habitation module. ”