Finland has become the 53rd country to sign the Artemis Accords. The signing ceremony took place at Aalto University in Finland on January 21, 2025.
“By signing the Artemis Accords, Finland builds on its rich history in space, excelling in science, navigation, and Earth observation,” said NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free. “Forging strong partnerships between our nations and among the international community is critical for advancing our shared space exploration goals.”
Wille Rydman, Finland’s minister of economic affairs, signed the Artemis Accords in front of an audience of Finnish space officials and workshop attendees.
“Finland has been part of the space exploration community for decades with innovations and technology produced by Finnish companies and research institutions,” said Rydman. “The signing of the Artemis Accords is in line with Finland’s newly updated space strategy that highlights the importance of international cooperation and of strengthening partnerships with the United States and other allies. We aim for this cooperation to open great opportunities for the Finnish space sector in the new era of space exploration and in the Artemis program.”
NASA and Finland have a long history of collaboration. Most recently, Finland is contributing to the upcoming Intuitive Machines-2 delivery to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis campaign and CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
Intuitive Machines will deliver a lunar LTE/4G communications system developed by Finnish company Nokia. Its US subsidiary, Nokia of America, was selected as part of NASA’s Tipping Point opportunity through the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, to advance a lunar surface communications system that could help humans and robots explore more of the Moon than ever before.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute also provided the pressure and humidity measurement instruments for the Environmental Monitoring Station instrument suite aboard the Curiosity Rover, which is now operating on Mars.
In 2020, the United States, led by NASA and the US Department of State, and seven other initial signatory nations established the Artemis Accords. The Accords are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements including the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices for responsible behaviour that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data.
