The Artemis Accords have expanded to 76 signatory nations, with Albania, Croatia, Côte d’Ivoire, and San Marino joining the coalition. As NASA advances its lunar base plans, the agency is now offering these partner countries opportunities to participate through scientific payloads, technology demonstrations, and a proposed space academy.
Growth of the Artemis Coalition
Currently, nearly 40% of the world’s nations are collaborating with NASA under this framework, and nearly two-thirds of the countries that signed the foundational 1967 Outer Space Treaty have also joined the Accords.
This growth has necessitated a more formal structure for the coalition. What began as an informal group has developed into a large, structured community guided by the Signatories Group Method of Operations, which was adopted in 2024. Under this framework, the group meets twice annually: once at a technical workshop and once at a Principals’ Meeting during the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). These meetings facilitate coordination on shared goals, including the development of interoperability standards and the mitigation of orbital debris.
Partner Nations Contribute Payloads and Technology to Space Missions
Participation is designed to be inclusive, incorporating contributions from partner nations such as scientific payloads, technology demonstrations, and CubeSats. These initiatives are intended to integrate emerging space nations into the broader exploration effort, providing a structured way for countries to contribute to missions involving the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Recent participants illustrate the diversity of the coalition.
Principles for Responsible Exploration
While the Accords are linked to NASA’s Artemis program, their scope extends to the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids. Signatories commit to using reasonable efforts to utilize current interoperability standards and to follow them. The Accords emphasize that cooperative activities should be exclusively for peaceful purposes, and they define principles for transparency, the preservation of outer space heritage, and the mitigation of orbital debris, including the safe and efficient disposal of spacecraft after their missions.
Our momentum reflects a growing commitment to peaceful, responsible exploration and a shared understanding that the future in space will be shaped by those willing to lead.
Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator