The continued membership expansion of the Artemis Accords has been constant since 2021. But the latest addition is different.
On June 21, India joined the Artemis Accords, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). India is a country that will soon be the most populated in the world; it also has a young population, and its economy is significantly growing.
India also takes part in scientific innovation. By joining the Artemis Accords, India is gambling on the U.S. and its private sector to forge the path for future space exploration.
The Admission Ceremony Took Place in Washington, DC
According to a NASA press release, the admission ceremony took place at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, DC. India is now the 27th country to join the Artemis Accords.
At the ceremony, Bill Nelson, a NASA administrator, represented the agency. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s ambassador to the United States, represented India.
According to the NASA press release, Bill Nelson commented, “On behalf of NASA, on behalf of President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are very pleased to grow our partnership with India here on Earth and in space.
“As we venture farther out into the cosmos than ever before, how we go is as important as what we do when we reach our destinations. We want to go in a peaceful way. We want to go in a transparent way.
“And we want to support each other in times of trouble. We are very grateful for India’s leadership in signing the Artemis Accords and look forward to all that we will accomplish together.”
Ambassador Sandhu made it clear that the decision to join the Artemis Accords is a decision to join the future of space exploration. He stated, “India is taking a landmark step in becoming a party to the Artemis Accords, a momentous occasion for our bilateral space cooperation…We reiterate India’s commitment to space exploration underpinned by new levels of cooperation and progress.
“India is a responsible space power and places the highest importance on the peaceful and sustainable use of outer space. We are confident that the Artemis Accords will advance a rule-based approach to outer space.
“It also underlines our collective belief that exploration is not just the pursuit of knowledge – of knowing the unknown – but is a catalyst in advancing the betterment of humanity. In that sense, signing of these Accords highlights the evolution of a partnership into one for global good.”
India’s Economy and Its Motivation in joining the Artemis Accords
Why is India joining the Artemis Accords significant? It has to do with the role of India as a growing world power, and many experts have identified India as a soon-to-be superpower.
Ever since the days of British colonialism, there has been a discussion about the potential – mainly the economic potential – of India.
In a 2020 policy paper, “India: The Next Economic Giant,” Mark Thirwell, director of the international economy program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, surveyed the long and deep processes that have changed India’s economic culture. While India’s economic transformation has taken longer than other Asian powers, it seems to be non-reversable.
It is only natural to create a financial connection between this soon-to-be superpower and what many in the U.S. believe is the next frontier in science and economic development: space exploration.
Reports from the Indian Space Research Organization has shown that the Indian government is in step with the philosophy of the Artemis Accords as far as the collaboration with the private sector in space exploration. There has also been a growing level of investment in the Indian space sector reaching 1.3 trillion rupees, according to Statista.
India and China in Space
Why is India interested in space exploration? Beyond research for its own sake, reports suggest that India is looking into the military benefits of a space program.
A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report by Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy & Technology at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, notes that the Indian space program has one eye toward the stars and another toward Beijing.
The decision to join the Artemis Accords is a signal to China that India is betting on continued U.S. scientific and technological supremacy. A recent meeting between President Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also highlights that the U.S. is committed to the rise of India to the status of a superpower.
In a commentary on the latest developments in India-U.S. relations, Arun Singh, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Carnegie India, noted that the continued ties between the U.S. and India are based on a growing Indian community in the U.S. According to Singh, there are more than four million expats and trade surpassed $191 billion in 2021-2022.
Singh also notes that: “Both countries have invested around $40 billion in the other, with Indian companies now having a presence in all fifty U.S. states. Defense trade and technology partnerships are growing, with both nations doing more military exercises with each other, with increasing complexity and building toward interoperability. There are more than 200,000 Indian students in American universities, 72 with the potential for developing new networks of commercial relationships in the future.”
As I wrote recently, the U.S. and China have a space race, and the decision of India to join the Artemis Accords should be viewed in that context. The foreign relations front of the U.S. has seen new challenges in recent years.
Russia and China hope to see a world in which the U.S. loses its hegemony. However, I believe this hope is premature.
In the field of space exploration, the U.S. advantage in science and technology is crystal clear. By joining the Artemis Accords, India has chosen to bet that space’s economic and military future will continue to remain in the hands of the U.S.
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