Since the US has designated space a warfighting domain, similar to traditional warfighting environments such as air, land, and sea, the interest in the extraterrestrial plane from the American political, military, and industrial world has significantly increased. In 2021, the Biden administration unveiled its Space Priorities Framework, which reaffirmed the nation’s space objectives, helping to align the U.S. government's strategies with the rapid advancements of the American commercial space industry and safeguarding national interests in an increasingly competitive space domain.

From this point of view, growing Russian Chinese space capabilities pose military and geopolitical challenges. To cope with these challenges, American policymakers also need their allies to strengthen their capabilities in this domain, particularly if these capabilities have transatlantic relevance and support NATO activities. This is precisely the case with Italy, with whom space has been at the core of cooperation between the two allies over the past years.