Artemis Accords and Its Implications for the International Space Law

Abstract

The NASA signed the Artemis Accords on October 13, 2020 with Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. NASA s purpose of this Agreement as stipulated in Section 1 of the Artemis Agreement which is to regulate civilian exploration and the peaceful use of space. It also made clear that it is intended to apply this arrangement to the civil space activities of the State Party. This Accords has great implications for the space industry. This is because space is emerging as a high value-added industry recently, and space activities of private companies are becoming a reality. However, the Artemis Agreement needs to be reviewed within the existing space law system. First, it is necessary to determine what the legal nature of the Artemis Agreement is. This is because the Artemis Accords is in the form of multiple bilateral agreements led by NASA which seems to head toward fragmentation of the space law. Furthermore, it is necessary to review the contents of the Artemis Accords. This is because there are parts that are discussed with novelty, and because the US clearly denies the lunar agreement, it is necessary to review the limitations and issues arising from the space treaty system in relation to civilian space activities. The Artemis Accords is discussed into three main areas here. (1) space security and peaceful use, (2) space resources, and (3) space tourism and the environment. Existing studies of the Artemis Accords seems to emphasize on space resources. However, since there are parts where the progress of international law is differently interpreted in the above three areas, it is necessary to consider the change in space law.