South Korea has officially signed the Artemis Accords, establishing key principles for NASA's partners in lunar exploration. This move aligns with the nation's ambitious plan to deploy a lander on the Moon before 2030.
NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon as early as 2024, focusing on a sustainable presence at the lunar South Pole. Recognizing the need for global cooperation amid growing international lunar activities, NASA introduced the Artemis Accords last year. These non-binding agreements outline "rules of good conduct" to ensure "a secure and transparent environment that facilitates exploration, science, and commercial activities benefiting all of humanity," as stated in the official description.
Previous signatories include the United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine. South Korea is now on this prestigious list, with Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hyesook signing the accords during a ceremony in Seoul on May 24.
"I am delighted that the Republic of Korea has committed to the Artemis Accords. Their signature demonstrates the strong global momentum for our approach to exploring from the Moon to Mars," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Notably, South Korea is the first nation to sign under the Biden administration.
This commitment coincides with South Korea's advancing lunar program. The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is set for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 as early as 2022, carrying South Korean-developed instruments: a five-meter resolution camera, wide-field polarized camera, magnetic field sensor, and gamma ray sensor.
A NASA-provided payload will analyze reflectance in permanently shadowed regions to map potential water ice deposits.
Even more ambitiously, President Moon Jae-in announced in March the development of a lunar lander for a 2030 touchdown. Supporting this is South Korea's Nuri launch vehicle (Korea Space Launch Vehicle), with its first flight slated for October.
