Ukraine receives invitation to join NASA's Artemis moon program
Artemis is an international space program led by NASA (Photo for illustrative purposes only: Getty Images)
Ukraine is facing a systemic crisis — it has had no space program for seven years. But recently, a letter arrived regarding participation in the Artemis program, says chief researcher and former director of the Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Oleh Fedorov, in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
Does Ukraine have a formal agreement with NASA?
The scientist said he previously worked at the State Space Agency, where he was responsible for cooperation with NASA.
"Back then, we had joint programs and even funding," Fedorov recalled.
He said that "after the flight of our first cosmonaut, Leonid Kadenyuk (which was already more than 20 years ago), we launched joint projects for orbital research."
"America even financed our small research programs for two years. But then everything stopped," the expert shared.
He added that today "we do not even have a formal agreement."
Will Ukraine join the Artemis program?
"Recently, a letter arrived regarding Ukraine's participation in the Artemis moon program," Fedorov said.
He explained that earlier, "many countries signed up for it, including us."
"The specificity is that each participant does something of its own, but coordinates it with the others. So there is no duplication," the scientist explained.
Therefore, according to him, Ukraine could "help the United States explore the Moon, but at its own expense."
"The State Space Agency of Ukraine is collecting proposals from possible participants, including from the Pivdenne Design Bureau," the expert noted.
But for now, according to him, there is no talk of Ukraine's participation in this program as a state.
On November 13, 2020, it became known that Ukraine had taken a step toward NASA's Artemis program.
At that time, the State Space Agency signed agreements within the framework of the program on the principles of cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids, and joined the space agencies of other countries participating in the program.
Ukraine thus became the ninth signatory country to the Artemis agreements.
Later, it was reported that Ukraine planned to participate in programs to explore Mars.
Meanwhile, NASA named specific timelines for when humanity will colonize the Moon.
Read also how the astronauts of the Artemis II mission returned to Earth after a long journey to the Moon and back, and why the astronauts' Moon landing was postponed.
