Germany is investing billions in favor of a new arms race in space

According to a comprehensive investigation published this week in the German magazine “Der Spiegel”, the event alarmingly illustrated the vulnerability of the Western countries. Russian and Chinese satellites pose a double threat: they are capable not only of spying and intercepting sensitive communications signals, but also of physically colliding with Western satellites and destroying them using robotic arms or missiles. While Germany has been content for years to promote only civilian space programs and with a rather meager budget, China, the United States and Russia have poured huge sums into preparing for a possible conflict outside the atmosphere. Now, reality slaps Europe in the face.

Meanwhile, in a windowless bunker located in Germany’s Lower Rhine region, the soldiers of the German Army’s Space Situational Awareness Center continue to watch the screens in front of them. Faced with constant threats of electronic jamming, cyberattacks and powerful lasers aimed directly to blind satellites temporarily or permanently, Berlin’s new warriors realize that the next and most dangerous front of all is here, and it’s hovering hundreds of miles overhead.