Switzerland and Sweden Sign Artemis Accords

Switzerland and Sweden have signed the Artemis Accords. The two countries become the 37th and 38th countries, respectively, to join the lunar-oriented agreement, which was first signed in 2020.
Switzerland signed on 15th April. On hand were representatives from both the U.S. and Switzerland, including ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Marco Sieber, who is a Swiss national.

Switzerland and Sweden join the Artemis Accords

Emphasizing Switzerland’s future contributions to the Artemis Project, Guy Parmelin, Swiss Federal Councillor and Minister for Economic Affairs, Education & Research, noted that “Switzerland has a long-standing partnership with NASA on human space exploration as well as space and Earth sciences. With the signature of the Artemis Accords we renew our commitment to jointly explore the heavens above us.”

Sweden signed the Artemis Accords on 16th April. The tone was somewhat different, considering the Nordic country’s recent joining NATO in the face of Russian threats and a spate of clandestine events since Russia’s broad-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Minister for Education Dr. Mats Persson signed the accords on behalf of Sweden.

Sweden has an advanced space sector, and the societal benefits of space research and activities have grown in importance,” said Persson. “By joining the Artemis Accords, Sweden strengthens its strategic space partnership with the U.S. on space covering areas such as Swedish space research and the space industry, which in turn also strengthens Sweden’s total defense capability.”

At the same time, Persson emphasized, as did Parmelin in Switzerland, the idea of a joint venture into the heavens. Speaking with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, Perssson stated,

This is about Sweden as a knowledge and research nation and creates a lot of opportunities. With the agreement, it is possible for Swedish researchers to access data when the world will explore the moon and planet Mars. And not least because the agreement says that we must preserve the common cultural heritage that exists out in space. This will be like the earth’s cultural heritage and important for future generations to understand man and its development.

Minister of Education Mats Persson, in Dagens Nyheter