Poland can look back on over 500 years of experience in space research and exploration. They were based on the revolutionary ideas of Nicolaus Copernicus and his followers, including Jan Heweliusz, great Polish astronomers from the 20th century and scientists working today. Over the years, scientists and engineers with Polish roots, working in the country and abroad, have created many valuable scientific concepts, inventions and devices that have become a permanent part of the history of the conquest of space.
Konstantin Ciołkowski and Ary Sternfeld created the theoretical foundations for the construction of multi-stage rockets and the calculation of spacecraft orbits. Mieczysław Bekker, Werner Kirchner, Eugeniusz Lachocki, Wojciech Rostafiński, Stanisław Stankiewicz and Kazimierz Piwoński worked on the American Apollo program. For over 40 years, the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences has been implementing projects for on-board satellite devices and interplanetary space probes. The culmination of Poland’s participation in the Soviet Inter-space program was the orbital flight of Mirosław Hermaszewski, and the descendants of Polish emigrants, Karol Bobko, Scott Parazynski, James Pawelczyk, George Zamka and Christopher Ferguson participated as astronauts in the American shuttle flight program.
Over the last half century, Polish scientists and engineers have designed and constructed over eighty instruments used in space missions, such as Cassini–Huygens, Mars Express, Rosetta, Mars Curiosity Rover, Mars InSight, Venus Express, Herschel, Phobos-Grunt, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter, or the planned Proba-3, Euclid, Juice, Arcus, Gamov, IMAP, Athena and others.
The domestic space sector currently gathers over 300 companies, employing nearly 12,000 people. Several dozens of them locate their business model entirely in the space sector, while for the rest it is part of their activity.
These companies are particularly active in robotics and automation, mechatronics, on-board power supply systems, optical and communication systems for satellites, scientific sensors and soil penetrators for space probes, and software testing systems and subsystems of objects launched into orbit. For several years, work has also been underway on fully recoverable Polish suborbital missiles. They are intended to reach an altitude of over 100 km and take with them a load of several dozen kilograms, which would consist of various types of experiments, for which microgravity conditions are required.
The importance of the domestic space sector is constantly growing, because the exploitation of space is a development field based on the development of the latest technologies, setting ever new and ambitious goals. The growing importance of the space sector in the national economy also means a social return in the form of taxes paid to the state budget and building a positive image of the country. The cosmic industry, through its intensive development
in the latest technologies, also inspires the young generation to self-improvement in the perspective of achieving the most ambitious goals.
Poland’s accession to the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2012 became a catalyst for the development of the domestic space sector. As part of ESA programs, over the last 10 years Polish entities have obtained contracts for the amount of EUR 140 million under the European Space Agency. Thanks to membership in ESA, we have access to ground and space infrastructure, we cooperate with national agencies and the largest companies in the space
sector, having the opportunity to develop native technologies and a significant share in the supply chain of international space projects. We also have the opportunity to develop human resources and participate in numerous educational programs.
The Polish Space Strategy adopted in 2017 – the basic document of Polish space policy – assumes the support for the Polish space sector in order to fully meet its expectations and needs and to be able to effectively compete on the European market. This goal is to be implemented, among others thanks to the introduction of the National Space Program, on which work is currently underway. The signing of the Artemis Accords agreement in 2021 also opens up prospects for our country to participate in the international exploration of the Moon and other bodies of the Solar System under the strategic leadership of the United States. This places Poland in the group of countries actively participating in the global market of space and satellite technologies, the use of which will determine future decades.