On March 30, a German start-up launched a rocket designed to place small satellites into orbit from Europe. Taking off from Norway’s Andøya spaceport above the Arctic Circle, it was the first-ever attempt to reach orbit from anywhere in Europe outside Russia and would have been a milestone in Europe’s goal of gaining independent access to space.

Constructed by Isar Aerospace, the two-stage rocket named Spectrum lasted approximately 40 seconds before exploding. It is, of course, nothing unusual for a new rocket to fail on its first attempt. Nevertheless, the failure reflects broader shortcomings in Europe’s space ambitions that carry strong implications for European strategic autonomy.

On March 30, a German start-up launched a rocket designed to place small satellites into orbit from Europe. Taking off from Norway’s Andøya spaceport above the Arctic Circle, it was the first-ever attempt to reach orbit from anywhere in Europe outside Russia and would have been a milestone in Europe’s goal of gaining independent access to space.

Constructed by Isar Aerospace, the two-stage rocket named Spectrum lasted approximately 40 seconds before exploding. It is, of course, nothing unusual for a new rocket to fail on its first attempt. Nevertheless, the failure reflects broader shortcomings in Europe’s space ambitions that carry strong implications for European strategic autonomy.

Europe’s defense deficiencies go beyond long-dwindled stocks of ammunition, missiles, and components; a fragmented defense industry; and inadequate funding. It simply lacks the platforms and strategic enablers necessary to undertake military operations in a major war. Not only would Europe struggle to provide an independent strategic-level nuclear deterrent without the United States, but the NATO alliance also depends on the United States for certain high-end conventional military platforms, such as aircraft carrier battle groups, missile defense, electronic warfare, strategic airlift, large-scale logistics, and space capabilities. Even though Berlin, London, and Paris can provide manpower and platforms across the land, sea, and air domains, Europe cannot provide the necessary strategic enablers that underpin high-intensity, large-scale, and long-duration joint operations without U.S. support.

European NATO members have largely been comfortable with their dependency on U.S. enablers due to long-standing trust across the Atlantic. However, the second Trump administration has, in only three months, managed to replace this trust with a high degree of uncertainty across Europe about Washington’s future commitments to NATO. Even though U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated at the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels in early April that the United States remains faithful to the alliance, this is not enough to repair the damage done to Europe’s trust in its traditional partner.

Thus, Europe must now choose between continuing its reliance on a potentially untrustworthy United States for strategic enablers or start addressing how to eliminate this dependency. The European Commission’s “White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030,” published in March, is one step in the direction of the latter approach. However, if Europe desires more strategic autonomy, one of the most urgent issues will be to address the continent’s long-standing failure to build independent capabilities in space. There are four major reasons for this particular urgency.

A composite image of exposures taken over 30 minutes shows a satellite-filled sky near 51 degrees north latitude on June 5, 2024.Alan Dyer/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images

First, space has emerged as a crucial enabler for modern warfare,........

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