The Polish aerospace industry is at the edge of important changes. It is likely to become one of the major European players.

The Polish priority National Space Programme, to be implemented over the coming 2-3 years, is going to be ready in the second half of the year. Poland is also in talks regarding the accession to the European SST Consortium which performs space surveillance and tracking. “The domestic sector has an opportunity to participate in the new financing perspective after 2021,” the President of the Polish Space Agency said. The Agency itself is also due to undergo major changes in the upcoming months. These events might elevate the use of satellite technologies in the country to a new level.

“For the Polish Space Agency, 2018 is going to be a major milestone. This year the priority National Space Programme is going to appear, defining the objectives and development directions for the aerospace sector in the coming 2-3 years,” Grzegorz Brona, PhD, President of the Polish Space Agency, told the Newseria Biznes press agency.

The draft version of the National Space Programme was presented in December 2017, and then submitted for consultation which ended in April this year. The consultations resulted in a decision to reformulate the programme and divide it into two documents regarding different timeframes. The priority Space Programme covers activities that will improve the technological readiness of the domestic aerospace sector, while simultaneously supporting the key projects, as well as maintaining and developing the existing potential of this sector's entities within a 2-3 year period. The overall programme will define a number of projects to be implemented within the next 10-15 years.

“It is an extremely important year also in the context of Poland's accession to the EUSST, a European consortium aimed at tracking objects in space and recognising threats to other space objects or to us, here on Earth,”  Grzegorz Brona explained. “We have been in talks with the consortium, which is composed of large European countries, for one year. I hope that we will soon be able to join it as a country and take part in the new financing perspective after 2021. 

Another issue of vital importance to the sector is the adaptation of the Polish Space Agency's structure to facilitate a more effective use of EU funds in the aerospace industry and more intensive participation in its projects, as well as for the purposes of Polish aerospace businesses.

“I hope that by the end of this year we will be able to introduce a thorough reform at the Agency,” President of POLSA said.

The Polish Space Agency was established in 2014. It contributes to achieving Poland's strategic goals by implementing actions supporting the use of satellite systems and increasing the rate of space technology development for the benefit of  national administration, science, economic and defence sectors. Since 2012 Poland has been a member of the European Space Agency, participating in its projects.

“Throughout the last year, the Agency's work was largely focused on surveying the European market. I have only led the Agency for two months now, so I can't really make a detailed summary of all its activities in the previous year, but it seems that this market has been surveyed and we now know what path we are going to follow,” Grzegorz Brona said. "Feasibility studies have been completed on certain space projects that will find reflection in the priority National Space Programme and relations with specific actors on the Polish and global markets have been established.”