The Artemis Accords are a U.S.-led, non‑binding political arrangement among countries that do civil space exploration. They spell out how existing space law (especially the 1967 Outer Space Treaty) should be applied to missions on the Moon, Mars, comets, and asteroids. The Accords set 10 main principles for responsible behavior:
No. By design, the Artemis Accords themselves are not a legally binding treaty. The U.S. State Department describes them as a “non‑binding set of principles,” and legal analyses characterize them as a political commitment rather than a source of new international legal obligations. However, many of the principles restate or help implement obligations that are already binding under older space treaties (like the Outer Space Treaty, the Registration Convention, and the Rescue and Return Agreement) for countries that are parties to those treaties. So the Accords don’t create new binding law, but they do influence how existing law is interpreted and applied, and they set political expectations for state behavior.
For the United States, the Department of State and NASA jointly lead the Artemis Accords; they do not “enforce” them in a legal sense, because the Accords are non‑binding.
• The Department of State co‑drafted and launched the Accords, leads diplomacy to bring in new signatories, maintains the official U.S. list of signatories, and integrates the Accords into broader U.S. foreign policy and space‑law positions. • NASA co‑drafted the text, explains and promotes the principles to partners, and builds them into NASA programs such as Artemis (for example, through mission design, data‑sharing practices, safety‑zone coordination, and technical standards).
The U.S. Portugal press note explicitly says State and NASA “lead the United States’ outreach and implementation of the Accords.” Because the Accords are non‑binding, there is no supranational enforcement body; compliance is encouraged through transparency, coordination, and diplomatic/reputational pressure rather than legal sanctions.
Helena Canhão is Portugal’s Secretary of State for Science and Innovation in the XXV Constitutional Government, under the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation. She is a medical doctor and full professor of medicine, former head of NOVA Medical School in Lisbon, and head of the rheumatology ward at a major Lisbon hospital. In her government role she oversees national policy on science and innovation and, acting in that capacity, she signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Portugal on January 11, 2026.
The U.S.-Portugal Standing Bilateral Commission (SBC) is the main high‑level forum created under the 1995 U.S.-Portugal Agreement on Cooperation and Defense. According to the State Department, it meets semi‑annually to review “all aspects of the bilateral relationship,” including international, political, defense and security, trade and investment, and cooperation in the Azores. The State Department notes that Portugal’s Artemis Accords signing was celebrated at a ceremony “on the sidelines” of the SBC; NASA likewise describes the ceremony as occurring during a semi‑annual U.S.–Portugal meeting on cooperation. Holding the event around the SBC session allowed both governments to highlight the new space cooperation in the context of their broader strategic partnership, with senior officials from both sides already present.
The Artemis Accords are signed by a large and growing group of countries from every inhabited continent. As of May 2025, the U.S. State Department listed 55 signatories, including (among others) Australia, Canada, many EU states, Brazil, India, Japan, Nigeria, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay. NASA’s January 2026 release notes that Portugal became the 60th nation to join, meaning several additional countries signed after that May 2025 list.
Because the roster is still expanding, the most reliable way to see the full, current list is to check the official documents: • NASA’s Artemis Accords page, which links to a PDF titled “List of the Signatories by Date,” and • the State Department’s Artemis Accords page, which enumerates signatories as of its latest update.
In the near term, Portugal’s joining the Artemis Accords mainly has political and operational effects rather than instantly creating new missions:
• Norms and procedures: Portugal commits to follow the Accords’ principles in its civil space activities—such as transparency about missions, open release of scientific data, careful planning for debris mitigation and spacecraft disposal, and coordination of temporary “safety zones” to avoid harmful interference in places like the lunar surface. • Cooperation opportunities: NASA notes that Portugal is now one of the nations working with it on “responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” and Portugal’s space agency says it is joining to contribute to the “sustainable, beneficial, and peaceful use of space for all humankind.” This positions Portuguese agencies, universities, and companies to take part more easily in joint projects with NASA and other signatories (for example, collaborative research, technology development, training, or participation in Artemis‑related science payloads).
As of January 2026, however, neither NASA nor the Portuguese government has publicly detailed specific new Artemis missions or hardware contributions that result directly from Portugal’s accession; those would emerge later through separate cooperation agreements and program announcements.