At the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) which takes place in Sydney this week, representatives of the United States and Australia met to sign a framework agreement which strengthens collaboration in aeronautics and spatial exploration between the two nations.
The interim administrator of NASA, Sean Duffy and the Australian space agency, Enrico Palermo signed the agreement respectively on behalf of their country.
“Australia is an important and long -standing space partner from Apollo to Artemis, and this agreement depends on this partnership,” said Duffy. “International agreements like this strive to take advantage of our resources and increase our capacities and scientific yields for all, which was essential to the plans of NASA from the low terrestrial orbit to the Moon, in Mars and beyond.”
The Australian Minister of Industry and Innovation and the Minister of Sciences Tim Ayres said that the signature was based on more than half a century of collaboration between the two nations.
“The strengthening of the Australian partnership with the United States and NASA creates new opportunities for Australian ideas and technologies, improving the industrial capacity of Australia, stimulating productivity and strengthening economic resilience,” said Ayres.
Known as “the framework agreement between the government of the United States of America and the government of Australia on aeronautical cooperation and the exploration and use of air space and space for peaceful purposes”, it recognizes cooperation which will be mutually beneficial for the United States and Australia and establishes the legal framework in which the countries will work together.
Potential areas of cooperation include space exploration, space sciences, earth sciences, including geodesy, space medicine and life sciences, aeronautical research and technology.
NASA has collaborated with Australia on civil space activities since 1960, when the two countries have signed their first cooperative spatial agreement. The Canberra Deep Space communication complex played a vital role in the support of the NASA Apollo program, especially during the Apollo mission 13. Today, the complex is one of the three global stations in the NASA depth network, taking charge of the robotic and human and human flight missions.
One of the original signatories of the Artemis agreements, Australia joined the United States under President Donald Trump and six other nations in October 2020, to support a set of basic principles for safe use and space responsible for space. The global space leaders of most of the 56 signatory countries met at IAC in Sydney this week to continue their implementation.
As part of an existing partnership with Australian Space Agency, Australia develops a semi-autonomous lunar rover, which will carry an instrument for analysis of NASA intended to demonstrate technology for scientific and exploration. The Rover should be launched by the end of this decade thanks to the NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
The NASA international partnerships reflect the agency’s commitment to the peaceful and collaborative exploration of space. Based on an inheritance of cooperation, from space shuttle to the international space station and now Artemis, international partnerships support NASA plans for lunar exploration as part of the Artemis campaign and future human exploration of Mars.
To find out more about NASA’s international partnerships, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/oiir/
