• Emirates agrees to a common set of principles covering how the Moon is to be explored and its resources utilised.
• The NASA initiative aims to strengthen the broad principles of peaceful human collaboration and co-existence in space.

Dubai: The United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) has signed the Artemis Accords, an international treaty that aims to further cement the principles of peaceful collaboration and co-existence in the exploration of space, planetary science and space engineering, and paving the way for Lunar and Martian exploration.

NASA has formally announced the Artemis Accords – a series of principles and processes whereby America and other countries would agree to a common set of principles covering how the Moon is to be explored and its resources utilised – in May this year.

It covers several high-level principles to strengthen collaboration and governance in the next era of space exploration and it reaffirms the principles in the Outer Space Treaty and promotes a positive commercial interpretation of activities on celestial bodies.

It underpins a number of important areas, including transparency, rendering emergency assistance to astronauts in distress, respecting heritage and the public release of scientific data for all to enjoy.

Pushing the boundaries

 “We have ourselves benefited from many fruitful partnerships as we have evolved our own space programme,” Sarah Al Amiri, UAE Minister for Advanced Technology and Chair of the UAE Space Agency, said.

“As a result, we have also been able to make increasingly effective contributions to international efforts to push the boundaries in our shared human knowledge and understanding of our universe,” she said.

The UAE Space Program has evolved from the country being a buyer and operator of satellites to building its own space systems engineering capabilities, with collaborations including partnerships in South Korea, Japan, Russia, the US and European Union.

The Emirates Mars Mission, in particular, is an international collaboration, involving US-based academic partners, US and European science contributors and a Japanese launch partner.

“From agreeing basic standards regarding the interoperability of systems through to underpinning important principles of safety and standards to guide operational excellence, the Accords help us to work together for the benefit of all. It is in this spirit that we welcome this initiative NASA has taken to strengthen the broad principles of peaceful human collaboration and co-existence in space,” Al Amiri said.

Building opportunities for the youth

Transparency, public registration and de-conflicting activities are all core to the Accords, which will also help to build future multilateral discussions at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and other international forums.

“Everything we learn from our journeys to space helps us in our understanding of our fragile world and the planetary systems that sustain humanity. Our commitment to scientific research, planetary science and space systems engineering is rooted in our desire to nurture and build opportunities for our young people, to further our nation’s development,” Amiri added.

The UAESA was launched in 2014 with a vision to establish the Emirates as a leader and key stakeholder in space and to inspire future generations of Emiratis to actively pursue career ambitions in this field.