German Aerospace Center… Focus On Spatial Activities

[SatNews] The German Federal Government adopted a new space strategy at its cabinet meeting on November 30, 2010.

The paper defines the fundamentals of how the high-technology space sector is to develop over the next few years at a national level and in so doing, how it must respond to changing political and societal conditions on the domestic as well as international stages. This strategy is being introduced by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie; BMWi). The strategy paper was drafted jointly with the other federal ministries involved in space activities, and in consultation with scientific and business establishments such as the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR).

With the creation of a uniform legal framework and the drafting of a German space law, the plan needed for the next few years has been laid out. Its aim is to ensure that, at the European level, appropriate directives exist to afford the same competitive opportunities to all the countries involved in space activities, thereby creating a strong platform for a future ‘division of labor’ in the European space sector. This is also relevant for positioning Germany to be able to perform research in space, equipping it with ‘systems capability’ – that is, the ability to develop, build and operate spacecraft – as well as the opening up of new markets. It is also about finding uses for space expertise in the contexts of civilian and military security. To accomplish this, a balance needs to be maintained between the scientific- and application-based, or practical, uses of space. All this depends on maintaining Germany’s technological independence and having unrestricted access to space transportation systems – and through them, to space.