Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk

(Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences)

Technological domains
  • TD 1 On-board Data Subsystems
  • TD 2 Space System Software
  • TD 3 Space Systems Electrical Power
  • TD 4 Space Systems Environments and Effects
  • TD 13 Automation, Telepresence & Robotics
About the subject

The only interdisciplinary research institute in Poland, whose entire sub-stantive activity is related to the research of the surrounding space, the bo-dies of the Solar System and the Earth, using space technologies and satel-lite techniques. Established by the decision of the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences on September 29, 1976, it began operating on April 1, 1977. Since 1991, he has been cooperating with the European Space Agen-cy, and since Poland entered the ESA structures in 2012, CBK PAN has been the main institution coordinating the activities of Polish companies from the space industry sector within ESA projects.
The Center cooperates with the world’s largest institutions in the field of space exploration, including conducts its own experiments as part of the NASA and ESA missions, cooperates, among others with Center National d’Études Spatiales, JPL, NASA and many others.
More than 70 research instruments sent into space on board satellites and interplanetary probes have been developed at the CBK PAN, incl. Solar Orbi-ter, Chang’E-4, InSight, Herschel, Koronas-Foton, Rosetta, Mars Express and Cassini-Huygens; the first Polish scientific satellites „Lem” and „Heweliusz” were also integrated and expanded here.

Main products and services
  • Satellites & Probes
  • Electronics
  • Payloads /Instruments
  • RF / Microwave Communication (Platform and Payloads)
  • On-board Data Management
The most important achievements in the space sector
  • Participation in the NASA IBEX and IMAP missions: the discovery of the IBEX Ribbon, i.e. the area of increased energy fluxes of hydrogen atoms, was a surprising result of the NASA Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mis-sion, in which a team of researchers from CBK PAN participated. Thanks to these scientific achievements, NASA decided to participate in the next interstellar mission, Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the launch of which is scheduled for 2024. The GLOWS instrument, the deve-lopment and delivery of which is the responsibility of the CBK PAN, is the only non-American instrument in the IMAP mission and its author – prof. Maciej Bzowski, regardless of the prestigious role of the Primary Investiga-tor of the instrument, is also a Co-Investigator (Co-I, Co-Investigator) of the second instrument in the mission.
  • The IBEX project was financed by the National Science Center, while IMAP is financed from an increased statutory subsidy granted for this purpose by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
  • Involvemet in ESA’s first major flagship mission Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE), whose main scientific goal is to understand the complex system of interactions within the Jupiter system. Since Jupiter is the archetype of the solar system’s giant planets, this mission provides the opportunity to learn about the environment around Jupiter and its moons, conduct advanced ba-sic research and technological development. The JUICE mission will spend 3 years in the orbit of Jupiter, during this time making precise observations of the largest planet of our solar system and its largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. CBK PAN is responsible for the development and de-livery of essential elements in two scientific instruments for this mission, in cooperation with Polish industrial entities.
  • Involvement in JUICE resulted in the invitation of CBK PAN to participate in the next ESA Comet Interceptor mission, in which, similar to GLOWS /IMAP, a Polish scientist is responsible for the entire instrument (PI of the instrument).
  • The participation of CBK PAN in the JUICE mission is financed from Poland’s contribution to the ESA PRODEX program.
  • Development of the concept of an advanced, reconfigured on-board com-puter for future satellite missions, which involves a departure from the standard, very expensive and hard-to-reach element base in favor of using components commonly used in commercial electronic devices (the so-called COTS – Commercial Off-The-Shelf). The idea of a cheap and possible to pro-duce in a short time device, meeting the requirements of space missions, fits in with the assumptions of the new strategy for the development of the spa-ce market, the so-called New Space. The concept of the device was verified as part of the ESA project (technological level TRL3, corresponding to the laboratory prototype), and is currently being developed under the Founda-tion for Polish Science program (technological level TRL6, corresponding to the prototype tested in conditions corresponding to the space mission), and planned for the future for implementation (the highest technological level TRL9, meaning verification of the device’s operation in a real space mission).
  • Sources of financing: the HIPERO project from ESA / PLIIS funds and its continuation under the FNP TeamTECH program.
Contact info
website:
http://cbkpan.pl
E-mail:
cbk@cbk.waw.pl
Telephone:
+48 22 496 62 00
Address:
ul. Bartycka 18A, 00-716 Warszawa

Contact person:
First name and last name:
Ewelina Zambrzycka-Kościelnicka
E-mail:
ezambrzycka@cbk.waw.pl
Telephone:
+48 728 327 400