Germany outlines space commitment
November 24, 2025
Germany has explained its plans for its space policy. The German defence ministry, in a statement on November 19th, and with a detailed report from Boris Pistorius, German’s defence minister, and Johann Wadephul, the country’s foreign affairs minister, said they wanted to ensure and secure Germany’s long-term ability to act in space – in both the civilian and military sectors – “in times of peace, crisis and a state of defence.”
The strategy comes a short time after Pistorius announced Germany would invest €35 billion ($41 billion) in military space programmes over the next five years, a major increase in the nation’s spending plans.
Two well-established German companies, Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg, are among the five “preselected challengers” in the current European Launch Challenge, and awaiting funding which will be provided by European Space Agency (ESA) member states at the upcoming ministerial Space conference.
The report covers three “strategic action areas” to identify the risks and threats and how the system could respond to them, the promotion of international cooperation and a sustainable order in space, and strengthening defence capabilities for deterrence and resilience.
“In the medium term, ESA should strive to develop European launch systems capable of high rates in all payload classes to provide all users with flexible access to space for highly agile mission profiles,” the report stated. “To this end, we are advocating the further development of the European Launcher Challenge so that, in the medium and long term, several competitive European heavy-lift launchers will ensure Europe’s independent access even to cislunar space.”
During a panel at Space Tech Expo Europe session on November 19, government and industry officials cited several challenges from implementing increased spending, from bottlenecks in launch to contracting difficulties.
“What we need is a clear strategy in Europe and also on the national side – also backed with budget lines we need to invest in the long term,” said Wolfgang Duerr, vice president and head of global business for institutional space at Airbus Defence and Space.
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