The article was prepared by Gazeta.pl journalist Kacper Kolibabski.
Last Friday, August 16, the largest Polish satellite, EagleEye, was launched into orbit. The day after, on Saturday, communication with the satellite was successfully established. This is a huge success for the Polish space industry, but as it turns out, it's just one of many in recent days.
"I spent a long time thinking about what to write on this Monday morning after the launch of the largest Polish satellite and our payload along with it. And suddenly, I realized that the last 47 days have been an absolute success story for Polish space innovation," wrote Jędrzej Kowalewski, CEO of Scanway S.A., one of the companies in the consortium that sent the EagleEye satellite into space.
"This period is the culmination of numerous projects and negotiations. We don't realize how many Polish entities have increased their activity in the space sector. This has led to seven weeks of groundbreaking events, starting with the first historic flight of a Polish rocket into space, through the launch of the largest Polish satellite into orbit, ending with multi-million euro contracts signed by Polish entities with the European Space Agency," Kowalewski told Next.Gazeta.pl.
"This looks impressive, and I think it's the simplest way to show that the Polish space industry is gaining momentum," added the Scanway CEO.
"An absolute success for Polish space innovation": What have Poles accomplished in 47 days?
During these 47 days, there were a total of 10 significant events for the Polish space industry. Or even eleven, because Jędrzej Kowalewski—by his own admission—forgot to mention the start of training in Houston by Sławosz Uznański, who will become the second Polish astronaut, after Mirosław Hermaszewski.
Jędrzej Kowalewski begins his list on July 3, when the first documented flight of a Polish rocket crossing the Kármán Line took place. "Success and proof that it is possible to fly into space on highly concentrated H2O2," commented the Scanway CEO on X.
"This shows that Poland can start flying into space independently. Although the rocket did not launch from Polish territory but from a spaceport in Norway, it demonstrates that we have the capability to launch anything to an altitude of 100 km," Kowalewski commented in our interview.
Less than a week later, on July 9, Europe's newest and largest rocket, Ariane-6, launched into space with a Polish vision system from Scanway on board. "The system provides engineers with important data and spectacular imagery of the spacecraft, payloads, and the planet," Kowalewski wrote on X.
On July 26, the Polish company Creotech S.A. was selected to carry out the preliminary design phase of space probes for the future ESA mission "Plasma Observatory." "Its goal is to gain a deeper understanding of energy flows in the plasma around the Earth," the Scanway CEO pointed out.
On July 29, SatRev announced its upcoming debut on the NewConnect stock exchange. Additionally, the company announced cooperation with Lonestar Data Holdings, specialists in secure data storage in space.
The next day, July 30, Scanway announced a contract for the design, construction, and support of launching large Earth observation instruments for Marble Imaging. "A project funded by ESA and one of the largest satellite equipment contracts in the history of Polish companies," commented Kowalewski.
"This shows that Polish space entities can not only talk about space, explore it, and carry out demonstration missions, but they can also execute contracts that are not only at a very high level but also develop the space industry and technologies that the Polish government has clearly identified as very interesting," Kowalewski said.
What's next? On August 1, PIAP Space, along with scientists from Łukasiewicz - ILOT, announced that they are working on technology for automatic and cost-effective satellite refueling in orbit. All this is part of the INORT project, which aims to develop a "roadmap" for this technology.
Another significant event Kowalewski mentioned was the huge, possibly the largest in history, delegation of Polish companies to the SmallSat conference and trade fair in Utah, USA. The event took place from August 3 to 8, with two Polish companies having booths and several others participating without a booth.
On August 14, Thorium Space, a Polish space company, officially announced the successful completion of tests of a flat satellite terminal. "This is an important product for the company and opens it up to the commercialization of terminals in the Ka-band," writes Kowalewski.
Additionally, at the end of July and the beginning of August, large amounts of "hyperspectral imaging data from the Intuition-1 satellite" began to flow in. "The proper functioning of the onboard data processing computer has been proven, and the imaging instrument is performing excellently, showing Poland and many locations around the globe," reads a post from the Scanway CEO.
All of this was capped off by the launch of the EagleEye satellite into orbit on August 16. "This shows that Poland is capable of producing large satellites and placing significant payloads in them, in this case, a telescope," Jędrzej Kowalewski told us.
Poland will have its own satellites. This is currently the most important Polish space project
There may be more and more breakthrough events like these. The construction of the Polish satellite constellation Camila will be of particular importance. The European Space Agency is currently holding a tender, having approved funding for the program last year. The tender is valued at tens of millions of euros.
"This is currently the biggest space project happening in Poland. This contract is directed at Polish entities, with a significant percentage of the budget required to be spent on Polish technology... Camila will allow us to join the league of countries capable of independently monitoring events on the planet's surface in areas of interest to us," says Jędrzej Kowalewski.
"This is the largest tender in the history of the Polish space industry and a record amount of money that will flow into the Polish satellite-related sector," adds our interlocutor.
Such a project will provide us with independence in data acquisition. It will have applications in defense. Kowalewski notes that while we can purchase satellite images from other entities, having our own satellites offers greater comfort and more accurate data. This will also allow us to avoid the queues of others seeking to use external satellite image sources, which may not always have the capacity to image the entire planet.
Moreover, the technology to be used in the Camila satellites will allow for very precise imaging at a resolution of 1 meter per pixel, compared to the 10 meters per pixel provided by external sources. This will enable civilian uses of the satellites, such as inspecting agricultural fields, estimating crop yields, assessing floodplains, conducting urban planning analyses, and even monitoring traffic, all of which are possible with such resolutions.
What's next for the Polish space industry? "We need trust"
Sławosz Uznański was selected for a space flight from the reserve list. This was made possible by Poland's multiple increases in funding for the European Space Agency. State funding for the development of the space industry is therefore crucial, says Jędrzej Kowalewski. Last year, his company sent its first satellite into space with private money—from investors and earnings from other contracts.
"We managed to carry out a mission that proved to the world that Scanway can make telescopes, cameras, and other devices capable of collecting optical data in space. This has translated into contracts that we are currently signing," the company's CEO told us. He added that Poland's unprecedented increase in ESA funding will translate into opportunities for Polish space companies.
"The Polish space sector needs public trust and, of course, money," Kowalewski added.
There are at least dozens of companies in Poland involved in the space industry, with 30 of them related to the "upstream" branch, which deals with sending various things into space and processing the satellite data obtained in this way. But many other companies still need support in building their reputation, and according to Scanway's CEO, Poland has invested relatively little in this sector.
"The space sector brings enormous financial benefits, but initially, you have to invest in it. You can't achieve sector growth and large demonstration missions without public money. That's certain," Jędrzej Kowalewski, CEO of Scanway, concluded in an interview with Next.Gazeta.pl.
