Independent reconnaissance for the Polish Army. Falcon 9 will carry the ICEYE and PIAST satellites
The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket with the ICEYE satellite and the PIAST satellite constellation has been postponed to November 22. These devices can be used in advanced “dual use” experiments – in the military and civilian industry.
The flight was previously scheduled for November 11. SpaceX informed the Polish side about the change of date.
The spokesman for the General Staff of the Polish Army, Col. Marek Pietrzak, told PAP that he received information that the launch was postponed to November 22. He added that at the moment he does not have information about the specific reasons for this shift, but further shifts are possible because “we are constantly moving within a certain time window.”
A satellite manufactured by the Polish-Finnish company ICEYE and a constellation of three PIAST satellites, intended for optoelectronic imaging reconnaissance, will be put into orbit.
As Wojciech Maćkowski from ICEYE told PAP, satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR), produced by ICEYE, enable observation of the Earth's surface in all conditions – both day and night, regardless of cloud cover, smoke or precipitation. – This is possible because – unlike optical satellites, which act like a camera and require appropriate lighting – SAR satellites use active radar waves and do not need light to obtain accurate images of any place on Earth at almost any time. ICEYE satellites purchased by the Polish Armed Forces guarantee excellent quality of such images – up to 25 cm resolution – Maćkowski pointed out.
The agreement between the Ministry of National Defense and the consortium of ICEYE and Wojskowe Zakłady Głosności No. 1 was signed on May 14 this year. It means, as Maćkowski emphasized, that the Polish Army will acquire its own SAR Earth Observation Satellite System, codenamed MikroSAR. – In the first stage, Poland will receive three ICEYE satellites and a military ground segment, and the agreement provides for the possibility of expanding the system with another three satellites and mobile ground infrastructure – he added.
– In May, we signed a contract for the delivery of three radar satellites with the option to expand by another three; now, only five months after signing the contract, we are ready to send the first of these satellites into orbit – explained the representative of ICEYE. The satellites are now ready for launch from the Vandenberg base in California.
– Thanks to the currently implemented agreement, Poland becomes one of the few countries with sovereign satellite reconnaissance radar capabilities. The purchase of radar satellites will significantly increase the versatility and effectiveness of the reconnaissance system of the Polish Armed Forces, allowing for a more complete picture of the operational situation, Maćkowski noted.
The system will enable continuous observation of interesting areas, for example military, transport or energy infrastructure, the Baltic Sea and state borders, and in the event of war – to recognize and track the movements of enemy troops, detect hidden equipment or assess damage. – Satellite imagery can support commanders in better and faster decision-making, and data can be distributed to various levels of command. Crucially, the system will operate fully under national control, said an ICEYE representative.
An integral element of the system will be the mobile ground segment, built by Wojskowe Zakłady Młodych No. 1, belonging to the Polish Armaments Group. This solution will ensure not only the reception of data from satellites, but also their safe transmission to every level of command. – Special containers, communication systems, antennas and security will create a complete, quick-relocation Mobile ISR Satellite Reconnaissance Platform (reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence) that can operate close to the operational zone. Thanks to this, the army will not only receive satellite data, but will be able to actually use it in battlefield conditions – described Maćkowski.
SAR satellites are a model example of the so-called technology. dual use, i.e. dual purpose – in addition to military and intelligence purposes, they have civilian applications. They are effective in monitoring the effects of violent weather phenomena and crisis situations, such as fires and floods. – Data and analyzes made available free of charge by ICEYE during the floods in southwestern Poland in autumn 2024 provided assistance to crisis teams and services fighting the disaster. The MikroSAR Earth observation system will also be able to be used for such purposes – added the ICEYE representative.
In the same transport, a Polish constellation of three small satellites – PIAST-S1, PIAST-S2, PIAST-M – will be placed in Earth's orbit.
– Satellites, i.e. the so-called the orbital segment is just one of many elements necessary for the country to be able to conduct satellite operations autonomously, Brig. Gen. told PAP. res. Adam Sowa, head of the PIAST project on behalf of the Military University of Technology. – The second is the ground segment for controlling satellites and receiving satellite data, the next is the data processing segment. The operations are conducted by a team of trained Mission Control Center operators, as well as experts and scientists who carry out experiments, he described.
As General Sowa emphasized, all key technologies related to satellites were created in Poland. – We have control over the full chain of image acquisition, including satellites, ground station, data collection center and processing algorithms – he noted. (PAP)
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