US Artemis Accords Hit 50 Signatories in 2024

The flags of the first 48 Artemis Accords signatories. On Dec. 11, 2024, Panama and Austria became the 49th and 50th nations to sign the Accords.
NASA
Austria and Panama signed the Artemis Accords today, bringing the total number of countries signed on to the United States’ flagship international space agreement to 50. NASA and the State Department created the Artemis Accords in 2020 along with seven other initial signatory countries. The Accords outline shared governing principles with the primary goal of avoiding outer space conflicts.
The Artemis Accords
The Accords also aim to reinforce the principles of existing diplomatic space agreements, primarily the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, stating: “The Accords represent a political commitment to the principles described herein, many of which provide for operational implementation of important obligations contained in the Outer Space Treaty and other instruments.” Compared to the Outer Space Treaty, the Artemis Accords add specificity to the rules governing lunar exploration and off-world resource utilization.
In addition to Austria and Panama, 15 countries joined the Artemis Accords in 2024: Belgium, Greece, Uruguay, Switzerland, Sweden, Slovenia, Lithuania, Peru, Slovakia, Armenia, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Chile, and Denmark.
Separate from the Accords, the Artemis Program, NASA’s lunar exploration effort, was established in 2017. The program involves domestic and international public and private partnerships. While there is plenty of overlap between participants in the Artemis Program and the Artemis Accords, participation in one is not required for participation in the other. For example, both Denmark and Italy have contributed components to the Artemis Program’s Orion Crew Module, but Italy was among the original signatories to the Artemis Accords in 2020, while Denmark did not sign on until late this year.
Artemis I launched in 2022, and Artemis II is set to embark on a 10-day mission in April 2026. NASA plans to use the Artemis missions as an opportunity to improve human space travel and planetary exploration as the agency prepares for future crewed missions to Mars. Artemis I was an uncrewed flight test of the program’s Space Launch System and the Orion spacecraft around the Moon. Artemis II will be the first crewed flight test of those systems. Artemis II was originally set to launch in September 2025, but NASA announced a delay early this month in response to concerns about the crew module’s heat shield
Notably, China has not signed the Artemis Accords and plans to launch its own international lunar research station in the 2030s. The ILRS has 13 partner countries, including Russia, none of which have signed the Artemis Accords. While there is no overlap between the ILRS and Artemis Accord signatories, some countries have maintained ties with both the U.S. and Chinese space programs; China’s Chang’e-6 and Chang’e-7 missions include payloads from France, Italy, Sweden, and Switzerland, all of which are Artemis Accords signatories.