61 nations had signed the Artemis Accords as of January 2026, with Oman the most recent 1. The Accords aim to establish shared norms for lunar operations, including transparency, interoperability, and heritage site protection. But the Coalition is less exclusive than headline numbers suggest. Countries including Thailand and Senegal have also signed onto China and Russia's rival International Lunar Research Station programme. This dual membership is rational hedging: smaller spacefaring nations gain access to both architectures without committing exclusively to either. The governance of the Moon is shaping up as multipolar, not bipolar, with countries choosing access over allegiance.
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Dual Signatories Complicate the Lunar Coalition Picture
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Several Artemis Accords nations have also signed China and Russia's rival framework, revealing a multipolar space governance reality.
ScienceDeveloping
Key takeaway
Nations are signing both Artemis and ILRS frameworks, hedging rather than choosing sides.
Deep Analysis
In plain English
61 countries have signed the Artemis Accords, a US-led agreement setting out rules for how countries should behave on the Moon: being transparent, not blocking others' operations, protecting historic landing sites, and so on. But some of those same 61 countries have also signed up to China and Russia's competing framework, which has different rules and a different vision for who governs lunar activity. This is rational hedging: smaller countries want access to whichever programme succeeds. It also means the US coalition is less unified than the headline number suggests. Countries are not choosing sides; they are keeping options open.
Sources:The Conversation
First Reported In
Update #1 · Artemis II Commits to the Moon With Three Open Questions
The Conversation· 2 Apr 2026
Read original →Different Perspectives
ESA
The European Service Module has operated without anomaly for five consecutive days, with the OMS-E engine's translunar injection precision directly responsible for eliminating both correction burns. ESA's hardware contribution is the mission's highest-performing subsystem.
NASA
NASA cancelled a second consecutive outbound correction burn and confirmed Orion in lunar gravitational dominance, while declining to publish any crew radiation dose data through a complete G3 storm cycle. Bipartisan congressional rejection of its $18.8 billion FY2027 budget proposal means the agency faces a political fight even as its spacecraft performs above expectations.
Dual-framework nations
Signing both the Artemis Accords and the ILRS framework is rational hedging, not defection; smaller nations maximise access without exclusive commitment. Lunar governance is genuinely multipolar, and the US coalition count of 61 overstates exclusivity.
Boeing / Northrop Grumman
SLS component production spans more than 40 US states, giving the industrial base strong political protection regardless of commercial alternatives. Congressional mandates guarantee contracts through FY2029, insulating the supply chain from technical programme changes.
NASA Office of Inspector General
The IRB heat shield findings should have been published before launch. The Starship HLS is two years behind schedule with a worsening manual control dispute. NASA has no crew rescue capability for lunar surface operations. The programme is proceeding with documented, unresolved risks.
SpaceX
Starship HLS development is ongoing. SpaceX disputes the characterisation of the manual crew control requirement as unresolved, maintaining its autonomous landing architecture meets mission safety objectives. The company has not publicly responded to the OIG's worsening-trend characterisation.