Research project
Norway and Space: Strategic Positioning, Allied Cooperation, and Exposure (NSPACE)
Space has become critical for both military operations and essential civilian services. At the same time, great-power rivalry is intensifying, and competition over positioning in space is increasingly shaping geopolitics on Earth. Norway possesses capabilities and geographical advantages that make it strategically important to its allies, but these same factors also increase the country’s exposure.
NSPACE will analyse how Norway can best navigate a more competitive space environment, with particular attention to geopolitics, the High North, and Norwegian vulnerabilities and strategic opportunities. The project will provide in-depth insight into a domain of growing importance for both military and civilian actors and will generate knowledge directly relevant to Norwegian authorities’ strategic assessments in the years ahead.
“Space is no longer a distant technological domain. Space infrastructure and security policy are now intertwined in ways we only partly understand. It has become an integral part of national security and international politics. Norway holds a unique position in the North that offers opportunities but also makes us vulnerable. For research, this raises new questions about how power, cooperation, and interdependence are shaped. With NSPACE, we aim to help fill important knowledge gaps in our understanding of these processes,” says project leader Niels Nagelhus Schia.
This project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.
Project Manager
Participants
External
Marianne Riddervold, Arena (UiO)
New publications
Norwegian-German space collaboration: A pathway to Europe
This brief examines the renewed Norwegian-German partnership in space and its strategic importance for Norwegian foreign policy and the country’s space ambitions. The analysis explores how the partnership reflects Europe's push for strategic autonomy and assesses how Norway can leverage its unique space assets to secure a stronger role in European space cooperation despite being a non-EU member. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first visit to Norway at Andøya Spaceport in March 2026 kicked off a new ambition for Norwegian-German cooperation in space, with a focus on space-based surveillance, secure satellite communication, and launch capabilities from the spaceport. The partnership shows new signs of conceptualizing space as a highly cross-sectoral domain where joint capacity-building is needed. Where Germany brings industrial scale and technological breadth, Norway contributes with specialized expertise, research environments, and a unique geographic position for space activities in the High North. The partnership could strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and security, but its success will depend on navigating EU regulations governing third-country participation, ensuring long-term Norwegian investment and engagement, and establishing pathways for collaboration. The collaboration with Germany has the potential to position Norway as a leading Arctic spacefaring nation and a key partner to European in space.
Project Manager
Participants
External
Marianne Riddervold, Arena (UiO)