Examine the role of bilateral frameworks like the Artemis Accords in shaping the emerging governance architecture of outer space activities.

The Artemis Accords (2020), a US-led set of principles for civil space exploration now signed by 70 countries [1], show how bilateral and plurilateral instruments — rather than new UN treaties — are increasingly writing the working rules of outer space.

Why such frameworks have emerged

• The Outer Space Treaty, 1967 lays down broad principles (peaceful use, non-appropriation) but offers no operating detail on resource use, safety zones or debris [2].
• UNCOPUOS works by consensus; its 2019 Guidelines on Long-term Sustainability are voluntary and slow to evolve [3].
• Rapid entry of private operators and lunar missions created a rule-vacuum that states filled through faster, like-minded coalitions.

How they shape the architecture

• Norm-setting: the Accords operationalise Treaty principles into practice — transparency, interoperability, registration of space objects, emergency assistance to astronauts, and preservation of heritage sites [1].
• Data governance: open sharing of scientific data was advanced further at the ninth India-U.S. Civil Space Joint Working Group (2026) [4].
• Coalition-building: participation is tied to concrete missions — NISAR, astronaut training and proposed lunar-outpost cooperation — making norms attractive rather than coercive [4].
• Diffusion: with 70 signatories, non-binding norms acquire the weight of emerging customary practice.

Limitations

• Non-binding and outside the UN system; enforcement rests on reciprocity.
• Risk of fragmentation into rival blocs, with major spacefaring states outside the Accords.
• Signing does not mean participation — India is a signatory but not a partner in the Artemis Programme itself [5].
• Contested reading of resource extraction as consistent with the non-appropriation rule.

For India, the Accords have converted space diplomacy into a strategic asset — anchoring the TRUST Initiative and lunar cooperation [4] — while its long-standing UNCOPUOS role lets it bridge coalition-led and multilateral tracks. The way forward is to treat such frameworks as building blocks, feeding their tested practices back into a UN-anchored, inclusive regime that keeps outer space a province of all mankind.