The Polish space sector is becoming more and more involved in European projects. Among the priorities are those related to security. – Poland is facing a new stage of thinking about security and using satellite data for this purpose – says Dr. Marta Wachowicz, president of the Polish Space Agency. According to recent announcements by the Ministry of National Defense, the first Polish military satellites are planned to be launched into orbit this month.
– The Polish space sector has made enormous progress in the last dozen or so years. We are now a subsystem supplier and are integrated into the supply chain in Europe. Polish entities are actively involved in ambitious international projects of the European Space Agency and the European Union, as well as in numerous scientific and research and development programs – says Dr. Marta Wachowicz to the Newseria agency. – Polish entities are reaching for more and more ambitious contracts. Due to the increase in the ESA contribution, opportunities have also opened up to take part in increasingly larger initiatives. As a sector, we have the ambition not only to be a creator of subassemblies and components, but also to design entire services and deliver real products to the European market.
The report of the Polish Space Agency “Assessment of the development of space research and use in Poland 2024” shows that Poland's total public investments in the space sector in 2024 reached EUR 237.1 million, thanks to which we took ninth place among ESA member states in terms of the amount of contribution to the budget.
The Polish space sector has over 500 entities (companies, scientific and research institutions or higher education), of which approximately 300 cooperate significantly with ESA, and over 150 are directly involved in advanced projects. This includes: space security programs, Earth observation and the development of navigation and telecommunications infrastructure, but also space exploration, including a mission with the participation of Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski to the International Space Station. In many international projects, Polish entities appear as key partners.
– Due to the fact that Poland has the ambition to be a leader in space security in this part of Europe and is involved in programs such as European Resilience from Space or the large Earth Observation Governmental Service program of the European Commission and the European Space Agency, this provides opportunities and opportunities for market participation, access to numerous and interesting contracts and the creation of new generation observation satellites – says the president of the Polish Space Agency.
The European Resilience from Space program is to be presented in Bremen on November 26 and 27, 2025. It is intended to be the first program pillar of the Earth Observation Governmental Service (EOGS), a service that will provide highly reactive and independent Earth observation capabilities from space, enabling the rapid, reliable and secure delivery of data, products and services for both civilian and military purposes. The proposed system is intended to synchronize European initiatives to build full, autonomous space resilience.
– Currently, we have a very interesting situation on the Earth imaging market, because the large project of the European Space Agency CAMILA is being implemented. Our Ministry of National Defense financed the MikroSAR and MikroGlob projects. The SAR satellites will be launched soon. Polish entities are therefore actively involved in creating new quality imaging. Therefore, we will be safer, we will have better information about our area and threats, we will be better prepared to counteract disasters and cataclysms, as well as protect our citizens – explains Dr. Marta Wachowicz.
CAMILA (Country Awareness Mission in Land Analysis), a project to build a national satellite constellation, is an initiative of the Ministry of Development and Technology, which entrusted ESA with the implementation and management of the tender. The Polish company Creotech Instruments is the main contractor of the system consisting of three observation satellites and a ground segment ensuring control over the satellites and processing of satellite data. The project will last until December 2027 and will involve many subcontractors from the domestic space sector who have been cooperating with ESA for years.
Creotech Instruments will also be the supplier of the Earth Observation Satellite System in the MikroGlob program, the aim of which is to ensure Poland's autonomous ability to acquire high-resolution satellite images supporting the activities of the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration and other public institutions. These data will complement the information available from the European Copernicus program, especially in terms of spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. The launch of the satellites is scheduled for 2027.
MikroSAR, in turn, is a program implemented in cooperation with a consortium, among others: ICEYE Polska and Wojskowe Zakłady Publicznych No. 1, the aim of which is to build satellite radar capabilities (SAR – Synthetic Aperture Radar) for military needs. According to the announcement of the Ministry of National Defense, the first Polish military satellites are to be launched into orbit in November.
– Due to the fact that we will soon have satellites in orbit that will provide very interesting data, Poland faces a new stage of thinking about security, a new stage of using satellite data for the benefit of citizens and an increase in the fundamental security of our borders – says the president of POLSA.
According to the Polish Space Strategy of 2017, the national space sector is to be able to compete effectively on the European market by 2030, and its turnover will amount to at least 3%. overall turnover of this market (in proportion to the Polish economic potential).
The main source of financing for space projects in Poland remains the return on contributions to the European Space Agency (62%), which increased to EUR 255 million in 2023-2025, as well as contracts under EUMETSAT (6%) and national funds (32%). The report also shows that in 2024, Polish entities signed 153 contracts worth nearly EUR 87 million under ESA. Forty-four of these were from the agency's mandatory programs and the remaining 109 were from optional programs. Since Poland joined ESA in 2012 until 2023, 199 Polish enterprises and research institutions have signed a total of 595 contracts with ESA worth EUR 270 million.
– A very important issue in Europe at the moment is the balance between what countries do independently, nationally, and how they engage in international cooperation. Satellite imagery, imaging data exchange is a perfect example. Each country is building its own independence and sovereignty, but space is an expensive technology that requires very large investments, and not every country can afford to buy many satellites and build many Earth monitoring systems from space – emphasizes Dr. Marta Wachowicz. – The challenge is well-formulated international cooperation to exchange data and information, while also having our own resources in orbit and data center resources.
