Will Germany's re-armament be enough?
'Sheer financial muscle and spending power must be joined to a new attitude.'
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🇩🇪 Germany is rearming at a speed unheard of since the 1950s. FibreCoat CEO Dr Robert Brüll asks in Brussels Signal whether the manner of Germany’s rearmament is the right one if the country is serious about responding to the threats of today and tomorrow. ‘Sheer financial muscle’, argues Brüll, must be jointed to a change in approach:
‘There is perhaps no technology that provides a more illuminating case study here than the drone. The Bundeswehr plans to acquire new combat and reconnaissance systems at pace. That’s good. Yet it shows no comparable interest in pursuing counter-drone innovation. This is a striking omission: If we don’t have the technology to defeat hostile drones, which grow ever cheaper, ever faster, and ever more disposable, then we will be tactically naked. Ukraine has proved that the side with better counter-drone systems does not just win battles; it preserves soldiers, armour, and ammunition.
But Germany’s error is in fact wider: It is betting on a single solution instead of taking a broad approach, where failure and quick learning is valued over brand. Germany should acquire several systems, test them and then double down on the best ones. A variety of interoperable drones will be stronger than a single source.
We could also look to orbit. Every serious military thinker accepts that space is now a decisive warfighting domain. Satellites guide our weapons systems, control our communications, track borders, monitor hostile forces, and allow our economies to function. Orbital control is as strategically important as the North Atlantic once was. Yet European spending on space defence, and indeed its whole approach to space, is woefully inadequate. The US, China and Russia are racing ahead in this crucial domain. Europe is essentially a bystander. Space power is becoming as decisive as naval power became in the 15th century.
Why, then, are we hesitating? Because we’re yet to unlearn some bad cultural habits.’
💷 The UK Space Agency has invested £6.9m in British satellite technology, according to UKTN:
‘The new investment will support five projects through the European Space Agency’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems programme.
These UK-led projects include refuelling technology to extend the lifespans of satellites and a 5G non-terrestrial network.
“Today’s investment shows how the UK’s space ambitions translate into real-world impact,” said Dr Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency.
“By advancing satellite communications technology, we’re not only building a globally competitive sector but also ensuring that communities – even in the most remote corners of the UK – can access the services they need. This is space delivering for people and powering our future economy.”’
🌍 Following the release of Germany’s space defence strategy, EuroNews analyses Europe’s progress in the space race, and the areas each European country is prioritising:
‘Across Europe, space agencies are expanding their strategies to blend science with security.
Countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom are investing in space satellites, defence, and launch capabilities to protect assets, boost competitiveness, and respond to emerging threats in orbit.
The emphasis on defence comes amid GPS jamming threats, new kinetic missiles, and dependence on foreign launch systems threaten to limit Europe’s space access.’
🚀 The FT reports that the Franco-German start-up The Exploration Company is pushing to build a European rival to SpaceX:
‘The Exploration Company, which is competing to develop Europe’s first reusable capsule to transport cargo to the International Space Station, is planning a significantly larger capital raise than its $160mn round last year, said Hélène Huby, the Franco-German group’s founder and chief executive.
Huby’s ambitions for the company she founded in 2021 are driven by a desire to enhance Europe’s independence in space. “We want to master the whole chain of space transportation,” she told the Financial Times. “We will start with the cargo capsule, but we want to do crew one day and then we have the Moon.” TEC is working on a lunar lander with the United Arab Emirates, aiming to land on the Moon before 2035.
Cargo capsules are used to bring supplies and equipment to astronauts on the ISS. Launched on a rocket, they are released into orbit, where they use thrusters to manoeuvre over to their destination.’
💰 McKinsey argues that the European space ecosystem’s competitive edge ‘has eroded’ in a report on the industry:
‘The European space ecosystem includes a diverse array of equipment and service providers, spanning both traditional and new-space economies. Collaborative institutions such as the ESA and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) oversee major European space projects, including Galileo, a global navigation service offering positioning accuracy within one meter, and satellite missions crucial for climate change monitoring. Additionally, the European Union’s IRIS2 satellite constellation aims to deliver commercial broadband services and secure communications for EU governments by 2030.4 Furthermore, the second-largest commercial communications constellation in the world is managed by a company based in Europe.
All of this development has been supported by private investment and rising spending from European nations and institutions, most of which flows to civil applications (Exhibit 1).
Nonetheless, and despite mounting public spending and private investment in European space enterprises, the gap in scale between the European space ecosystem and those of the United States and China has widened. Public spending and private investments in the two leading markets accelerated faster than in Europe during the past five years. Two other factors contributing to this growing gap include fragmentation in Europe’s public-spending system and subscale private investments.’
🇨🇳 Reuters reports that China has completed an emergency mission to Tiangong space station to return a trio of stranded taikonauts:
‘The Shenzhou-20 vessel was meant to return a trio of Chinese astronauts back to Earth on November 5, but was deemed unfit to fly after the window of its return capsule was cracked by what CMSA suspects was impact from space debris.
The incident forced China’s space authorities on November 14 to deploy the only remaining flightworthy vessel, the Shenzhou-21, which had arrived at the space station in late October, bringing a new trio of astronauts.
With the departure of Shenzhou-21 six months before schedule, the crew on Tiangong was left without a flightworthy spacecraft for 11 days, a safety risk the arrival of Shenzhou-22 has removed.’
🛰️ In its newsletter, Payload reports on Germany’s space safety and security plans, citing Felix von Schubert, Executive Chairman at NewSpace Capital, who calls it ‘a turning point’:
‘While Germany’s focus is military and defense ideology, the strategy calls for a whole-of-government and nationwide approach to building out orbital capabilities. Ultimately, that’s good news for the entire European space industry, and leaders expect that a large portion of the €35B will find its way into the hands of Europe’s new space economy.
“This strategy marks a turning point. This will probably be the end of the old way of doing things, which was characterised by painfully slow procurement, far too much red tape, and a preference for a small number of big contractors,” Felix von Schubert, executive chairman and partner at NewSpace Capital, told Payload. “Germany is setting a new direction of travel…[and] private investors must aim to match this political ambition and accelerate the space sector’s growth.”’
🧸 And pupils at Walhampton School in Southampton are trying to track down a teddy bear sent flying into the upper atmosphere for a science experiment. The BBC reports:
