Beyond the Artemis Accords: The Case for a Space Treaty Organization

The Artemis Accords brought dozens of nations together around shared principles, but principles without structure aren't policy. In a domain where commerce, exploration, and national security increasingly overlap, non-binding norms aren't enough. And the window to act is narrowing.In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Dr. Eric Sundby, CEO of TerraSpace, SFA Board Member, and now the first maritime space officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, to make the case for something more formal: a Space Treaty Organization.Drawing on his PhD dissertation, published op-eds, and direct experience working across the civil, commercial, and national security space sectors, Sundby argues that the United States needs to move from bilateral handshakes to binding multilateral frameworks, before China and Russia fill the vacuum.This conversation covers:Why the Artemis Accords are a critical first step, and why they aren't enoughWhat a Space Treaty Organization would actually do (and what it would not look like)The Wolf Amendment, ILRSCO, and the legal contradictions already undermining U.S. space cooperationWhy SEATO failed and NATO succeeded, and what that means for space governanceHow China's strategy on Earth (artificial islands, territorial claims, debt diplomacy) maps directly onto its posture in spaceThe commercial angle: how TerraSpace's critical minerals work depends on clearer property rights and reduced regulatory frictionWhy inaction at this point in history equals ceding groundReal-life Starfleet, and why the values we carry into space matter as much as the capabilitiesFrom the South China Sea to the lunar surface, the patterns are already clear. The question is whether the United States and its allies will build the framework that keeps the space domain free, or wait until the other side has already poured the sand.Hosted by Bill WoolfProduced by Ty HollidayGuest: Dr. Eric Sundby, CEO, TerraSpace | SFA Board Member | U.S. Navy Reserve (Maritime Space Officer)Dr. Sundby holds a PhD focused on space governance and international cooperation frameworks and is the author of the op-ed "America Needs a Space Alliance."Read Dr. Sundby's Op Ed: https://spacenews.com/america-needs-a-space-alliance/Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.