The central motivation for this report is simple: space governance matters because spending public money matters. European governments commit substantial public resources to defense and space. But what do governments actually invest in as they hurry to strengthen national and collective defense capabilities? And, perhaps more importantly, what do those investments leave behind? In this report, we examine how six European countries have organized their space governance and why, and we discuss how governments may strengthen their capabilities to govern strategic domains for the benefit of the wider public and commercial sectors.
The report was developed from May through August 2026 by Nina Holm Vohnsen and Rasmus Mondrup, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus Space Centre, Aarhus University.
