NASA Celebrates as Artemis Accords Surpasses 75 Signatories

NASA marked a significant expansion of the Artemis Accords by welcoming Albania, Croatia, Côte d’Ivoire, and San Marino, raising total participation to 76 countries. Administrator Jared Isaacman said the 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. He noted that nearly one-third of all signatories have joined since the start of President Trump’s second term, and that as the president directs NASA to return Americans to the lunar surface and lay the groundwork for Mars, the United States is strengthening a coalition of partners who share its values and are ready to help shape the future of exploration.

The recent surge is one of the most rapid expansions of international cooperation in civil space history, with nearly 40% of the world’s nations now collaborating with NASA on a transparent, peaceful, responsible, and safe approach to space exploration. Nearly two-thirds of the countries that signed the foundational 1967 Outer Space Treaty have also signed the Artemis Accords. What began as an informal coalition of a small group of countries has developed into a large, structured community guided by the Signatories Group Method of Operations, adopted in 2024.

Under that framework, the group meets twice annually—once at a technical workshop and once at a Principals’ Meeting during the International Astronautical Congress—with virtual sessions added throughout the year to support implementation. As a result, participating countries have advanced agreed-upon recommendations on noninterference, interoperability, scientific data sharing, and registration practices. Two major workshops this year further strengthened technical alignment: signatories reviewed their planned lunar landings and orbital missions and took part in hands-on sessions focused on open science and practical tools for sharing lunar data.

Experts from dozens of countries worked through real-world examples of how to make mission information easier to find, use, and share, from releasing lunar science data to adopting common standards that reduce interference between missions. This year’s Artemis Accords Principals’ Meeting at IAC in Antalya, Türkiye, beginning Monday, Oct. 5, will be co-chaired by NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson and Major General Roberto Melgar Sheen, director of the Peruvian Space Agency (CONIDA). The meeting will examine ways to support emerging space nations and disseminate lunar debris-mitigation recommendations.

NASA continues to put the principles of the Artemis Accords into practice. With the creation of the Moon Base, NASA has invited every Artemis Accords signatory to participate in the return to the Moon through scientific payloads, technology demonstrations, CubeSats, and other capabilities. The excerpt also notes that the United States, led by NASA and the U.S. Department of State, and seven other nations launched the Artemis Accords.