NASA Administrator Signs Statement of Intent with Brazil on Artemis Cooperation

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and the Government of Brazil Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI) Marcos Pontes signed a joint statement of intent during a virtual meeting on Dec. 14, 2020. The statement describes Brazil’s intention to be the first country in South America to sign the Artemis Accords. Brazil has expressed interest in potentially contributing a robotic lunar rover – in addition to conducting lunar science experiments and other investigations – as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

“I am excited to sign this statement of intent with Minister Pontes today,” Bridenstine said. “Artemis international partnerships will play a key role in achieving a sustainable and robust presence on the Moon while preparing us to conduct a historic human mission to Mars.”

Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon and establish a sustainable and permanent human presence on the lunar surface with commercial and international partners.  Artemis is the next step in human exploration and is a part of NASA’s broader Moon to Mars strategy. Specifically, NASA’s lunar operations will provide the agency with the experience and knowledge necessary to enable a historic human mission to Mars.

The Artemis Accords provide a simple, intuitive, and universal set of principles that reinforce and implement the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, as well as other multilateral agreements and vital norms of behavior. Via the Artemis Accords, NASA and its partners commit to ensuring that Artemis operations are conducted in full compliance with existing international obligations and other important principles. The principles of the Artemis Accords require that operations are conducted for peaceful purposes, with transparency, interoperability, and proper registration, and that signatories render assistance to astronauts in distress, deconflict activities to avoid causing harmful interference, respect space heritage, mitigate orbital debris, extract and utilize resources in full compliance with the Outer Space Treaty, and provide full and public release of scientific data.