“The country’s space sector is growing, and our innovative space companies are developing globally competitive solutions. By signing the Artemis Accords we are entering a new stage and committing to uphold the principles of responsibility, safety, and sustainability in the space industry. This will also bring us new opportunities for applying innovations and seeking cooperation in the industry,” said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
The Accords commit Lithuania to pursue any planned space missions, such as space mining and the use of space-derived resources, including all types of mining on the Moon, Mars, comets or asteroids, in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty and supporting safe and sustainable operations in space. The Accords also establish cosmic waste reduction and other safety- and sustainability-related principles that apply to space missions. The parties have also agreed to cooperate and to conduct periodic consultations in order to verify that the principles set out in the Accords are being implemented, and to exchange views on potential areas of collaboration.
The Accords were signed during the Vilnius Space Days 2024, with Kara McDonald, the U.S. Ambassador in Lithuania, in attendance.
According to Pam Melroy, Deputy Administrator of NASA, Lithuania is joining a global coalition of nations committed to the responsible and sustainable use of space. These nations aim to share scientific data freely, operate safely, and preserve the space environment for future generations. In signing, Lithuania has become a leader in this golden age of space exploration. Together we’ll advance our understanding of the cosmos.
In 2020, in implementing the Artemis program, designed for missions to the Moon and beyond, the U.S. State Department and NASA, along with 7 other partner countries, signed the first accords laying out the principles for the safe, sustainable, and practically significant exploitation of outer space. The Accords were later signed by a number of other countries, as well.
The principles and guidelines established in the Accords are based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and other agreements. These documents define the civil activities performed in space by the civil space agencies of the signatories.
The Lithuanian space industry has been consistently growing since 2021, when the country became an associated member of the European Space Agency (ESA). Lithuanian research institutions and space companies are successfully entering international supply chains and taking part in international programmes. The country also hosts an ESA incubator (ESA BIC Lietuva), which is helping its promising startups grow. The expansion of Lithuania’s space companies is also helped along by SpaceHub LT under the Innovation Agency, which is responsible for the growth of the country’s space ecosystem and the promotion of competitiveness and the implementation of space policy.
The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation has prepared a development concept for the Lithuanian space industry. The country is seeking to become a provider of competitive space services, and to develop solutions and technologies based on advanced research.
