On 17th March 2025, the fifth edition of the French military space exercise – codenamed AsterX 2025 – began at Centre national d’études spatiales (National Centre for Space Studies – CNES), Toulouse Space Centre.
Organised by Commandement de l’Espace (French Space Command – CdE), the exercise brought together 170 civilian and military participants from France and twelve allied nations: Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In Europe, the AsterX events are unique trainings focused on developing tactical and operational skills, as well as increasing experiences of personnel in military space missions. During the live part of the exercise, the participants operate in a simulated but realistic and complex space environment.
This year´s edition of the exercise was split into two parts. The first phase was focused on a more in-depth national response to certain threats, while the second was aimed to strengthen the cooperation between the French space specialists and their allies.
During the exercise, the participants face a full spectrum of space warfare. Their skills are going to be tested by ten different types of threats, eighteen space events in all orbits and 4,000 simulated objects. For the first time, the space specialists will have to create an autonomous allied force to combat the enemy.
The AsterX military space exercise will conclude on 28th March 2025.
All photos © French Ministry of Defence/Air and Space Force. Information from the press releases of the French Ministry of Defence – published on the MoD page in March of 2025 – were used, in accordance to the etalab-2.0 licence.
