The Polish Space Agency POLSA is paralyzed. Layoffs are ongoing

The Polish Space Agency has lost the ability to cooperate with partners, competent employees are being laid off, there is organizational and communication paralysis, and the IGNIS mission was unprofessionally prepared – these are some of the allegations contained in an anonymous letter sent to the media. The Ministry of Energy and Technology assures that it analyzes these signals.

A letter about the situation at POLSA landed on Thursday evening in the e-mail boxes of some journalists dealing with space issues. Its full content was published on Facebook by Karol Wójcicki, a popularizer of astronomy and author of the blog “With your head in the stars”.

The Ministry always carefully analyzes all signals, including complaints regarding supervised entities, the Ministry of Development and Technology assured on Friday in response to PAP's questions.

The authors of the letter recalled that in March this year prof. was dismissed from the position of president of POLSA. Dr. hab. Grzegorz Wrochna, and in April Dr. Marta Wachowicz was appointed to this position – according to the authors, inexperienced in managing large institutions and managing international projects.

Regarding the appointment of the new president of the Ministry of Energy and Technology, the Ministry of Tourism and Technology announced that her candidacy was selected in accordance with the provisions of the POLSA Act – from among people selected through an open and competitive recruitment process. “The appointment is made after seeking the opinion of the Agency Council, the Minister of National Defense and the minister responsible for science and higher education. The Agency Council, the Minister of National Defense and the minister responsible for higher education and science presented a positive opinion about Dr. Marta Ewa Wachowicz,” emphasized the Ministry of Development.

The numerous allegations against the Ministry of Development and Technology, which supervises POLSA and which decided to change the president, include: layoffs of competent POLSA employees in a key period – preparations for the IGNIS mission with the participation of Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and for the upcoming Ministerial Council of the European Space Agency (ESA), which will concern, among others, division of Poland's contribution to ESA programs in 2026-2028.

As stated in the letter, POLSA spokeswoman Agnieszka Gapys was dismissed two weeks before the planned start of the mission by Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and in recent days Dr. Aleksandra Bukała, the head of the IGNIS mission on behalf of POLSA, was also dismissed with immediate effect. Dr. Bukała, director of the Department of Strategy and International Cooperation at POLSA, also managed the “IGNIS – Poland Reaches for the Stars” tour by Uznański-Wiśniewski, which lasted until December 19. As the whistleblowers pointed out, this decision “mindlessly leaves” the debriefing (summary – PAP note) of the mission and the popularization of its effects without a guardian. Due to the lack of POLSA activities, the “post-flight tour” (post-flight tour – PAP note), i.e. the meeting of the Polish astronaut, among others, with students and pupils, was ultimately to be initiated by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

The authors of the letter also claim that POLSA's communication and promotion of the Polish astronaut's mission was reduced to a minimum, which wasted the opportunity to use this event to strengthen Poland's position on the European and global space market.

The list also included, among others: POLSA's inability “to cooperate with anyone”, including the failure to sign the Polish-Japanese cooperation agreement. In turn, the absence of the Polish delegation at the meeting of Artemis Accords signatories during the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney was supposed to lead to “the actual withdrawal of Poland from the international dialogue on the development of space technologies.”

Artemis Accords are a series of agreements between the United States government and other countries specifying standards for peaceful, civilian exploration and use of outer space.

According to the authors of the letter, Uznański-Wiśniewski did not go to the congress in Australia due to POLSA's fault, although all other participants of the AX-4 mission took part in the event.

There is a growing belief in the scientific, industrial and popularizing circles about the lack of competence of the current POLSA management, lack of decision-making and a disrespectful approach to representatives of the sector – it was written.

They added that the president of POLSA, Dr. Marta Wachowicz, delays meetings, cancels them or comes to them unprepared, and consults almost every decision with the ministry, which leads to organizational paralysis.

The authors of the letter to journalists also accuse the current president of POLSA of “actively blocking” proposals of representatives of the Polish space sector (associated, among others, with the Association of Space Sector Employers) to organize a series of open meetings with the participation of a Polish astronaut in all provincial cities.

“The scientific, industrial and educational communities unanimously believe that the current management of the Polish Space Agency shows a lack of competence, makes gross mistakes and disregards the voice of the sector. (…) The current situation is perceived as a serious threat to the development of the Polish space sector and a waste of the achievements of recent years,” concluded the authors of the letter.

PAP also asked the Polish Space Agency to respond to the allegations contained in the list of allegations. By the time the cable was published, we had not received a response.

Anna Bugajska (PAP)

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