Ibadan, 23 May 2024. – Slovakia is set to become the latest signatory to the Artemis Accords as the Slovakian government took note of the intention and authorized the Minister of Education Tomáš Drucker (Hlas-SD) to sign the documents. The Minister of Education will subsequently sign the agreements during his foreign business trip to the USA, making the European country the 41st member of the Artemis Accords.
The Slovakian representative stated that “the principles of the agreements try to reflect the conditions of the 21st century, the existence of commercial actors in the space field and technological progress. For the Slovak Republic, the agreements represent a platform for deepening cooperation in the field of space research, development and industry with the USA, as well as other involved countries.”
Lithuania recently became the 40th signatory to the Artemis Accords, with Aušrinė Armonaitė, Lithuanian Minister of Economy and Innovation and Ambassador Kara C. McDonald signing the documents at a ceremony in Vilnius, Lithuania. Similarly, Slovenia recently became a signatory to the Artemis Accords with Matevž Frangež of the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism, and Sport signing the Accords on behalf of the Country.
NASA, along with the Department of State and seven other nations, established the Artemis Accords in 2020 to lay out a set of principles grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and three related space treaties. With the commitment of now 40 nations, the accords community will facilitate a long-term and peaceful presence of deep space exploration for the benefit of humanity. Furthermore, the Artemis Accords align with NASA’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, and economic benefits, and to build the foundation for crewed missions to Mars.
