The United States and Australia have signed a new framework agreement to enhance cooperation in aeronautics and space exploration, the US Embassy & Consulates in Australia announced this week.
The agreement was signed on 30 September at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney by Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy and Australian Space Agency Head Enrico Palermo.
According to the US Embassy, the framework provides the legal basis for future collaboration between the two countries in areas including space exploration, space science, Earth science, aeronautics research, and technology.
“Australia is an important and longtime space partner, from Apollo to Artemis, and this agreement depends on that partnership,” Duffy said.
“International agreements like this one work to leverage our resources and increase our capacities and scientific returns for all, proving critical to NASA’s plans from low Earth orbit to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
Australian Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science Tim Ayres said the agreement builds on more than 50 years of collaboration between the two nations.
“Strengthening Australia’s partnership with the U.S. and NASA creates new opportunities for Australian ideas and technologies, improving Australia’s industrial capability, boosting productivity, and building economic resilience,” Ayres said.
The US Embassy noted that the agreement, formally titled the “Framework Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Australia on Cooperation in Aeronautics and the Exploration and Use of Airspace and Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes,” recognises the mutual benefits of cooperation and outlines a path for joint initiatives.
The Embassy highlighted the longstanding US-Australia space relationship, dating back to 1960 when the two countries signed their first cooperative space agreement.
It noted that the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex has since played a critical role in NASA missions, including the Apollo Program and continuing operations as part of the Deep Space Network.
Australia is also one of the original signatories to the Artemis Accords, joining the United States and six other countries in October 2020.
The Embassy also said global space leaders from the 56 signatory nations gathered at IAC in Sydney this week to discuss implementation of the accords.
Under an existing partnership with NASA, the Australian Space Agency is developing a semi-autonomous lunar rover equipped with a NASA analysis instrument.
According to the Embassy, the rover is scheduled to launch by the end of this decade under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
