New Zealand signs Artemis agreements to spur sustainability in space mining
New Zealand calls for sustainable progress in space mining as the country becomes 11th in the world to join the NASA-led project Artemis astrings To explore the moon under human guidance.
Peter Crabtree, head of the New Zealand Space Agency, signed the agreement at a ceremony on Monday, May 31 in Wellington, New Zealand, According to NASA.
“The Artemis agreements allow us to prepare for future economic and trade opportunities as well as achieve foreign policy objectives,” said Stuart Nash, New Zealand’s Minister for Economic Development. government statement from his.
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New Zealand is known in the space community for welcoming the American community rocket labThe main launch pad is on the Mahia Peninsula. The company, which specializes in sending groups of small satellites into space, has launched 20 electronic rockets, with great success, despite being Recovering from a failed launch in May.
New Zealand has yet to provide specific guidance on what it will bring to the Artemis Charter. The country said it had signed the Artemis Conventions to emphasize the need for careful management of space resources on the Moon; NASA plans to Extracting the lunar regolith for water To enable long-term settlement of the lunar surface using local resources.
“As one of the few countries with a space launch capability, we take Keitiakitanga’s responsibilities in the space environment very seriously,” New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaya Mahuta said in the same statement. Government, using the term Maori for environmental management practices.
Mahuta added that “New Zealand is committed to ensuring that the next phase of space exploration is conducted in a safe, sustainable and transparent manner and in full compliance with international law,” and urged “additional rules or standards to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainability of these resources.”
In a statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said New Zealand was among eight countries that “helped shape the principles adopted in the Artemis agreements.” Agency statement Monday at the new site. However, New Zealand did not sign the initials group of eight countries 2020, and the reasons for the delay were not disclosed.
With the signing, New Zealand became the eleventh participating country, joining Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine and the United States. It was South Korea The first to sign Under the new administration of US President Joe Biden on May 24. NASA has pledged that more nations will sign “in the coming months and years, as NASA continues to work with its international partners to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space.”
Space News noticed that the various sites have Very different points of view About how to use space resources. “In the United States, the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 gives American companies rights over the space resources they extract,” the report said.
Space News continued: “Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates, two other signatories, have similar national laws.” Australia, on the other hand, is one of the few countries that have ratified the 1979 Moon Agreement, which declares the Moon and its resources a “common heritage of mankind” and demands “the equitable sharing of the benefits of these resources among all nations.”
Seven European countries can continue to discuss space resources, after Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Slovakia and Spain. Submit an article on May 27 To the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COBOS). The subcommittee studying international space law began a two-week meeting on Monday.
According to NASA, the Artemis Accords are intended to “strengthen and implement” the United Nations of 1967 Outer Space Treaty. The principles of the treaty include not making sovereign claims over celestial bodies, not allowing nuclear weapons in space, and holding individual states (or nations) responsible for damage caused by their space objects.
NASA officials said the Artemis agreements are also intended to incorporate international standards established in 1975. Registration Agreement, which deals with space debris, and rescue agreement 1968, with instructions to help astronauts land unexpectedly on the territory of another nation. The agreements also agreed on the “public publication of scientific data”.
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