European space governance is structured around the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union (EU), whose growing involvement since the 1990s represents one of the major transformations of European space policy (Hoerber and Lieberman, 2019).

This paper analyses European space governance through the lens of space diplomacy, understood as the set of negotiation and cooperation processes surrounding space-related issues (Cross and Pekkanen, 2023). It examines how space is conceived and negotiated within a multi-level governance framework (Hooghes and Marks, 2002) associating member states, EU institutions, national agencies and industrial actors.

Drawing on interviews conducted in 2024-2025 and on an analysis of European negotiation practices, the paper focuses on the Galileo satellite navigation programme as a case study. Its analysis underlines the tensions between scientific, industrial, commercial and military logics. Debates over the distribution of competences between the EU and ESA, the civil-military duality of the system, and national rivalries highlight divergent conceptions of sovereignty through space.

By analysing Galileo as a process of internal space diplomacy, this paper shows how major space programmes contribute to reshaping Europe’s international role in a context of growing competition and strategic rivalry in outer space.

Anticipatory science diplomacy can help transform relationships and create refreshed and refocused ideas for enhancing collaboration and innovation between the EU and space nations that are developing their space programs. The EU can strengthen its strategic position by using anticipatory approaches to solve particular space diplomacy challenges, such as geopolitical tensions and technological disparities (Pellegrino and Stang 2016). According to Sabzalieva et al. (2021), stakeholders can use this framework to identify potential risks and partnership prospects as demonstrated through their scientific cooperation agreement analysis. By highlighting the significance of jointly creating standards and procedures that advance security and sustainability in space, the idea of anticipatory governance enables flexible tactics in global collaborations (Guston 2014). The crucial interaction between scientific innovation and security is demonstrated by the case studies pertaining to science diplomacy initiatives (Araújo-Moreira, Serrano, and Migon 2022; Young et al. 2020). Additionally, the discussion of scientific imaginaries emphasizes how cooperative efforts can improve public trust in addition to technological breakthroughs (Robinson 2021). As a result, adopting anticipatory science diplomacy can spur increased collaboration and, in the end, help the EU and emerging space nations become more resilient in negotiating the challenges of space governance (Slann 2016; Bensalah 2024).

Outer space is reconfigured as a central arena of strategic competition. From a defense perspective, it is increasingly framed not only as an enabler of terrestrial military power but as a domain in which defense capabilities are generated, contested, and exercised directly. This article examines the militarization of space through the broader transformation of space politics from exploration to exploitation and, more recently, expansion. Rather than treating militarization as a discrete or reactive development, it conceptualizes it as part of a cumulative reconfiguration in how states define security, deterrence, and power in space. Drawing on a comparative analysis of space security strategies and defense policy documents, the study identifies three overlapping phases: state-led capability development during the exploration phase; the integration of space systems as force multipliers during the exploitation phase; and the emergence of space as an independent operational domain during the expansion phase. The analysis shows how this shift drives deeper alliance interoperability alongside growing investment in autonomous and ecosystem-based defense capabilities, reshaping deterrence and the future international order in space.

This paper focuses on the new threats to the EU, today. They are twofold: first the Russia threat is evident and active in Ukraine. Secondly, the transatlantic link is weakening and has become less reliable to the extent that the EU must rethink its security arrangements. This leads to a European Defence of the willing and able and thus differentiated integration as a established way of progressing further. The Russian threat seems to concern first Member States that have experienced Soviet tutelage. Are they sufficiently united and will the traditional Western European leaders accept their emancipation and if so how can they help? This thought piece will address these questions through the lens of European space policy.