The Israel Space Agency has signed an agreement with NASA to join the Artemis Accords as part of events marking Israeli Space Week.
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The Artemis program aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface and eventually establish a permanent base camp on the moon as well as a space station in lunar orbit in preparation for a future manned space mission to Mars in the 2030s.
A moon landing has tentatively been scheduled for 2025. Aerospace company SpaceX has been tasked with developing the lander that will land the astronauts on the moon.
According to the Science and Technology Ministry, "The agreement sets out principles for cooperation in space exploration and civilian use of the moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids for peaceful purposes."
Israel is now the 15th country to join the NASA-led program.
To the Moon and Beyond! ๐ฎ๐ฑ ISA has joined "Artemis" the most ambitious space program in the world.
The joint cooperation with the ๐บ๐ธNASA led project is a testament to our significant global cooperation as a world leader in space, and will serve as a bridge to Israeli hi tech. pic.twitter.com/8VWqEut5r3
— Orit Farkash Hacohen ืืืจืืช ืคืจืงืฉ ืืืื (@FarkashOrit) January 17, 2022
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Israel Space Agency Director-General Uri Oron signed the agreement one week after Foreign Minister Yair Lapid announced the Jewish state would join the program.
Lapid tweeted last Sunday: "We are marching together towards a global and innovative future, where different countries are mobilizing resources for science and research, and together developing space diplomacy.
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"The signing will increase cooperation in trade and economics in the field of space between the industries of the signatory countries," he wrote on Twitter.
Science and Technology Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen tweeted last week: "I congratulate the head of the Space Agency on signing the Artemis Agreement and Israel's joining the most ambitious, complex, and expensive space program in the world."
First signed in October 2020 by founding members Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the Artemis Accords are built on the principles of peaceful exploration, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registration of objects, the release of scientific data, preserving outer space heritage, preventing harmful interference, and the safe disposal of space debris.
i24NEWS contributed to this reportืฅ
