It is definitely on a national basis, Bernard. I believe the reason will lie in ‘space law’ with the accords being rooted in the UN’s Outer Space Treaty (1967). Signing the accords means agreeing to co-operate around issues such as resource extraction and militarisation – the signatories will have to have sovereign rights, which the EU does not yet have.

Also, the Accords are meant to be many-layered – countries can choose to participate in specific Artemis programme activities, at a cost, or just agree to the principles. A one size fits all would not necessarily be appropriate.

I suspect it’s all a legal minefield and this area will become a feeding ground for lawyers in the future….what is the basis for any ‘space law’? Who has authority? Who enforces it?… When a Japanese lander arrives on the Moon, for example, any resources extracted may not belong to Japan but the U.S.A. Japan, a signatory, would have agreed to this. That’s my understanding.