Türkiye becomes 71st nation to sign Artemis Accords

Türkiye just joined a club that's become one of the most important in space. On Aug. 31, it signed the Artemis Accords, NASA's rulebook for exploring space peacefully. That makes it the 71st country to sign on. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman hosted the ceremony in Washington himself.

The Accords aren't just a symbolic pledge. Countries that sign agree to share data about what they find in space. They agree to avoid interfering with each other's missions. And they agree to follow the same ground rules for mining resources like water ice on the Moon. That last part matters more than it sounds. Whoever writes the rules for extracting Moon resources shapes who profits from them later. Two major space powers are conspicuously absent: China and Russia. Neither has joined the U.S.-led framework.

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Will every major space power eventually sign on, or stay outside the rules entirely? That's the real risk here. The Artemis Accords keep growing, but non-signatories aren't bound by its terms. Whoever reaches the Moon's resources first might not have to answer to anyone else's rules at all.