Europe’s top aerospace companies are increasingly partnering to push forward with space missions and build essential infrastructure for security and climate protection. At the International Space Summit in Paris, held September 9-10, experts emphasized that Europe’s most significant achievements in space have come from cooperation among nations and their industrial partners, rather than from individual efforts. The European space sector is currently navigating a complex landscape. While competition is growing among EU member states, there is also a high level of technological and industrial interdependence. To achieve strategic autonomy in space, Europe is embracing a model called "coopetition"—a mix of cooperation and competition among rivals. Key programs like Galileo (a satellite navigation system), Copernicus (Earth observation), Clean Sky (aerospace research), and IRIS² (space technology development) show that collaboration, not national or corporate independence, is the path to European space leadership. Global spending on space activities reached a record $137 billion in 2025, according to the 14th Perspectives spatiales conference in France. This increase reflects a strong global interest in space exploration and the reality that no single country, agency, or company can now handle the full range of space-related activities on its own. European aerospace firms, including Thales Alenia Space and OHB System, are working together on projects for the European Space Agency (ESA). For example, they are developing the Harmony mission, which monitors changes in the Earth’s shape, and proposing a multipurpose space plane called VORTEX-S. The coopetition model means that while companies compete for market share, they also collaborate on shared goals. This approach has been vital for the success of programs like Galileo and Copernicus. The European Space Agency plays a central role in these efforts, acting as both the program owner and a technical contractor. This dual role helps ESA manage the challenges of sharing knowledge between competitors, ensuring that projects like Galileo can be completed successfully. By working together, European nations and companies can address technological challenges that would be impossible to solve individually. This collaboration allows them to pool resources, reduce risks, and share knowledge. However, managing these cooperative efforts requires balancing the interests of different organizations and individuals. Success depends on both formal agreements, like contracts and intellectual property rules, and informal factors such as trust and professional relationships. For Europe to lead in space, it must continue to prioritize collaboration, proving that space leadership is not a solo endeavor but a collective effort.