Order in Space

Context: International agreement will boost India’s space capabilities.

About Artemis Accords:

• The Accords, which were released in October 2020, by the US, signed by 12 nations so far. India, China, and Russia — the three space powers — are not among the signatories.
• While adhering to the Outer Space Treaty’s principles of peaceful exploration and no territorial claims, the Accords call for tighter registration of space objects, better handling of debris, avoidance of biological contamination and littering, sharing scientific knowledge, and creating interoperable standards. They also touch on mining.
• Signatories may participate in NASA’s Artemis Mission, which targets a manned Moon mission by 2024.
• It asks signatories to desist from irresponsible acts like destroying satellites (as India and China have done) and creating debris, or allowing rockets to fall uncontrolled back to Earth as China recently did.

Rising need for international agreement on space exploration

• Expanding the older framework: The US’ Artemis Accords are bilateral agreements and aim to expand the framework of the Outer Space Treaty (OST1967) and the Registration Convention (RC1976).
  • There are at least 2,500 working satellites and 30,000 pieces of large space debris (including defunct satellites) in orbit. The Registration Convention, 1976, needs upgrades to record the orbits of these objects and of future satellites.
• Rising space utility:
  • National ambitions:
    • In 1967, only two nations — the US and the USSR — had space-going capabilities. Now, China, India, Japan, and the European Union (and France) have demonstrated capacities.
    • The UAE is developing a space profile in cooperation with Japan.
    • In addition to its Moon and Mars missions, China is putting up a space station, and Russia-China are cooperating in planning a moon-base.
    • The robotic exploration of asteroids and comets continues, in addition to ongoing and planned missions to Mars, Venus, and the Moon.
  • Commercial use: Current commercial uses of space include a huge swathe of services ranging from communications to weather prediction to geo-locational services. Private corporations are marketing “zero-gravity” tourism.
  • Military use: Launching observational satellites and deploying futuristic lasers to destroy satellites and missiles are part and parcel of this.

Issues with international agreement on space explorations: Different contentions –

• Territorial and resource claim: Apart from territorial claims, space mining holds promise since metals, gases, and ores, which are scarce on Earth, maybe abundant.
• Geopolitical spillover: Russia is threatening to pull out of the International Space Station due to sanctions imposed after its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Conclusion: Signing the Accords would be in line with recent policy changes to allow India’s private sector into space. It could provide a boost to India’s aerospace capabilities as well as potential revenue streams.