Aligned Orbits: Forging a New Era of Indo-German Space Collaboration

This report assesses the Indo-German space partnership, noting that despite historical ties since 1963, the bilateral space relationship has underperformed largely due to ISRO’s monopoly and Germany’s ESA-centric focus. However, a pivotal opportunity has emerged, driven by concurrent major policy shifts in both countries, including a series of Indian reforms (since 2020) to privatize its space sector and Germany’s recently announced $41 billion defense space investment.