Space Matters
The Great Game for Space
South Korea is officially part of the Artemis Accords
South Korea is a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific region and the two countries have a long history of cooperation in the security and high tech sectors. Under the Trump administration, the relationship with South Korea was severely hit with the US contemplating withdrawing its security umbrella. With the election of President Biden, the relationship has been restored to its decades-old tradition of cooperation. The latest indicator is South Korea becoming the tenth signatory to the Artemis Accords, which is the US led framework for joint Lunar exploration.
Brazil may Upgrade to Full Signatory
According to this report in SpaceNews, NASA expects two more countries to sign the Artemis Accords in the coming weeks. The first is Brazil, which has already signed a statement of intent with NASA in December 2020 and will now apparently become a full signatory.
New Zealand whose Side is it on Anyway?
The other speculated signatory is New Zealand. New Zealand recently came under fire for its Foreign Minister’s remarks in which she expressed apprehensions about criticising China’s human rights abuses through the Five Eyes Intelligence grouping.
Following this, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Arden opined that differences between New Zealand and China were “becoming harder to reconcile”.
Arden’s remarks were seen as evidence of pressure on New Zealand from its Western allies. New Zealand has in the past broken with the US over deployment of nuclear weapons in its territory. Things deteriorated to the point of New Zeland’s exiting from the ANZUS security alliance. The move to join the Artemis Accords for the moment signals that New Zealand is not ready to completely break away from the West today as some fear.
It will be interesting to note however if Wellington makes any moves to cooperate with China or Russia on their recently unveiled joint research plans for space and lunar exploration,.
New Launches, Gear and Plans
ROSCOSMOS announces Interplanetary Zeus missions by 2030
According to reports by TASS and Business Insider, Russia is planning to launch multiple missions equipped with the “Zeus”, a nuclear-powered space vehicle which can carry heavy cargo into deep space or propel payloads from one orbit to another. ROSCOSMOS, the Russian state space company, hopes to launch it on a mission to the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. The three leg interplanetary mission is planned to be undertaken by 2030. Although an ambitious target, it is not beyond the Russian space enterprise to achieve, as evident from the legendary Sputnik, Soyuz and Mir projects in the past.
Space in Media
Deep Six(2018) is a short six part Sci-Fi web series with the premise of disaster in space. In the show, a highly organised but unlucky crew of space farers improvise nonsensical but alluring fictional salvage missions to rescue themselves from a cryptid threat while on their mission to mine asteroids. Although the show has an evidently low budget and production quality, it has a certain charm to it that keeps the audience engaged for its sixty odd minutes of runtime.
Interesting Publications and Resources:
Takshashila Rapid Research Output analysing the latest Long March 5b incidents
The Latest Space Cafe Podcast
An interesting Oped about India’s Space Sector