Inside Europe’s push for space autonomy with Josef Aschbacher

The space economy is rapidly growing and becoming a significant industrial force in Europe and beyond. European countries currently allocate about 0.04% of their GDP to space, but some nations are outpacing others. Italy, for example, now spends a larger share of its GDP on civilian space projects than any other European country except Luxembourg, making Rome a strategic high-value industrial and digital ecosystem.

Japan has also increased its investment, becoming the top spender relative to GDP among OECD countries. Luxembourg has tripled its budget since 2010.

France and Germany, however, remain Europe's leading space-faring nations, with the former allocating up to €2.4 billion and the latter €2.5 billion in civilian space spending in 2025. Both countries also lead in research funding, with space accounting for 14% of their civil research and development funds in 2024, more than double the OECD's average of 6.3%.

Military spending, on the other hand, is dominated by Germany, which plans to invest €35 billion in space-related defense capabilities by 2030, significantly more than France. Regarding private investment, Europe accounts for only 12.8% of global private space investment, with the US receiving 67%. The UK, with 757 satellites in orbit, leads in the private sector, with satellite industries contributing around 18% of UK non-financial GDP in 2022.

Despite the private sector's significant role, Europe lags behind the US in terms of satellite launches, with only eight orbital launches in 2025 compared to the US's 181.