The New German Space Strategy: How Strategic Is It?

Abstract

After almost 10 years, the German government finally released a new principal space policy document – “Making Germany’s space sector fit for the future. The space strategy of the German Federal Government.” The spirit of progress and forward orientation has been encapsulated in its title. But does the document actually live up to its entire name? Evoking the term “strategy” entitles readers to have high hopes and expectations of the new space policy, especially given the fact that it came out only after a decade. Thus, it is an opportune time to examine the constituents of the new space strategy document, particularly by comparing its main features with those of its predecessor. Increased political efforts have been made towards space investments in recent years – Germany’s public spending for space has been growing, a “High-Tech Strategy for Germany” was created in 2006, and the Office of the Federal Government Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy was established in 2007. These are key developments that we could expect to have contributed to the creation of the new space policy document that refers to itself also as a “space strategy.” Perhaps, this is the latest milestone of the German government’s plans to strengthen the country’s position as a leader in technology development, innovation, and business. Therefore, assuming that the German government aims to increasingly exploit space for purposes in the realms of business, politics, science, and defence, the term “strategy” will be critically examined in order to discuss how “strategic” this new space policy document actually [is.][purports to be.]

The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily represent views held by the Future Forum Berlin of the Research Institute of the German Council on Foreign Relations.