Regardless of what cynical and selfish desires some of us have, we should all be bounded by the same ultimate goal if we love science in general and astronomy in particular: to efficiently be working together and doing our best for exploring the unknown. Even since we humans first went into space in 1961 when Yuri Gagarin flew the Vostok 1 spacecraft, the Universe has always been providing us surprising insights.
A new set of international agreements made by NASA and partnering space agencies is supposed to help to assure a peaceful and good future for space exploration. The NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter the following:
It’s a new dawn for space exploration! Today I’m honored to announce the #Artemis Accords agreements — establishing a shared vision and set of principles for all international partners that join in humanity’s return to the Moon. We go, together: https://t.co/MnnskOqSbU pic.twitter.com/aA3jJbzXv2
— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) May 15, 2020
International partners that agreed to sign to the Accords include the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA),
Mars mission still under the spotlight
As you might have guessed already, the “Artemis Accords” have a lot to do with the Artemis Program that plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024. If it all goes according to the plan, the Accords will allow a more efficient work with international partners when it comes to the highly-ambitious project of sending humans to Mars.
NASA said in a statement:
International space agencies that join NASA in the Artemis program will do so by executing bilateral Artemis Accords agreements, which will describe a shared vision for principles, grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, to create a safe and transparent environment, which facilitates exploration, science and commercial activities for all of humanity to enjoy,
While the agreement may sound utopic for some people considering that humans are generally way too different in order to always get along, we must say that anybody has the right to be skeptical. But we shouldn’t forget that we all want to always benefit as much as possible from what the Universe has to offer us.
