Eyeing slice of lucrative space market, Germany races to draft laws for commercial industry

BERLIN - Facing tough competition from China, the United States and even tiny Luxembourg, Germany is racing to draft new laws and attract private investment to secure a slice of an emerging space market that could be worth US$1 trillion a year by the 2040s.

The ministry's aerospace and space commissioner, Mr Thomas Jarzombek, could submit the laws to parliament later this year. "In my view, it is hugely important that we participate as equal partners so that we are primed to develop and build technologies for such a gateway," he said. Some companies are already considering moving to Luxembourg, which has taken a lead in Europe by enacting laws to limit liabilities and ease restrictions on mining operations. It has also set up a 100 million euro investment fund for projects.

"We are aiming for a lean basic law that is open to the future," said a spokesman for Mr Jarzombek and the economy ministry."A national space law should focus above all on incentives and make it possible for the German space industry to play a bigger role in global developments." Mr Matthias Wachter, aerospace expert at the BDI German Federation of Industry, said advances in space were crucial for future technologies such as autonomous driving.Any spending plans would have to contend with rising budget pressures and an economic slowdown. Germany is in its 10th year of expansion, but only narrowly avoided recession last year.

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