The official visit to Poland was started by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The head of the American space agency first went for a meeting to the Polish Space Agency. The delegation was also attended by the US Ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski.

– For those who are interested in space, which is probably for everyone in Poland, NASA is an icon. NASA has fulfilled the dream of man standing on the moon, has developed many breakthrough technologies, explores other celestial bodies and the distant Universe, and each space mission is an important step for humanity. It is a great honor that we can host NASA Administrator and astronaut Bill Nelson in POLSA. I would like Poland not to be a passive observer of NASA’s activities, but to join them much more actively than before. This visit is an important step in that direction. – said the president of POLSA, prof. Grzegorz Wrochna welcoming the American delegation to the Warsaw office of the Agency.

The meeting between NASA and POLSA was devoted primarily to tightening cooperation and talks about Poland’s participation in different American projects. Thanking the Polish Space Agency for the activity so far, the head of NASA emphasized that the golden era of space exploration is underway and Poles cannot be missing from it. He also underligned that the directions of development of POLSA and the Polish space sector are in line with NASA’s plans, that is why joint projects are only a matter of time.

The head of NASA also stated that Poland is a valued partner and ally supporting the activities of the Artemis Accords in October 2021. The program, in which 25 countries are currently participating, gives the opportunity to participate in multilateral NASA programs related to exploration, e.g. Moon and Mars.

The cooperation between POLSA and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), launched in 2022, is also of great importance for Poland. Within this contacts, different areas of competence have been identified, in which Polish services already have efficient solutions for NASA. Some of the examples are: miniature measuring instruments, elements of robotics and automation, advanced system and analytical software, including artificial intelligence. The Polish-American groups are ready to working on this fields.

Poland has been taking active part in NASA missions for years. One of the example is the use of the domestic production’s instruments on board of NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover or ARTEMIS 1. There, on board the Orion capsule, were placed, among others: radiation sensors designed at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission is planned for 2025, with the participation of the Polish instrument – Global Solar Wind Structure (GLOWS), which became designed and bild at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The photometer will study the effect of the solar wind on the hydrogen gas in the heliosphere.

During the meeting at the Polish Space Agency, Ambassador Mark Brzezinski – who has been supporting Poland in partnership with NASA since the beginning of his term in Warsaw – emphasized that our country is becoming a center developing innovations of the future.
His presence during the meeting also emphasized the importance of cooperation in the area of ​​space in Polish-American relations.

One of the points of the visit was also a meeting with students of Polish technical universities, participants of the international competition European Rover Challenge, who presented award-winning planetary rovers and rocket structures. Among the participants were representatives of the Poznań University of Technology with ExoMy and 1 Husky rovers, Rzeszów University of Technology with Legendary and the AGH University of Science and Technology and the Universeh Project, who came with the Beta rocket.

The program of the NASA administrator’s visit also includes a meeting with representatives of the Polish space sector who presented their products and services, including: Astronika, CBK PAN, CloudFerro, Creotech, ELPROMA, KP Labs, PIAP Space, Politechnika Wrocławska, Saule, Scanway, SENER , Syderal, ŚBŁ ILOT, Silesian Center for Science and Technology, The Batteries, Vigo Photonics and WiRan.

The last point of Bill Nelson’s visit was a meeting with young people at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw.