Poland launches EagleEye, its largest and most advanced satellite yet
Poland on Friday launched its most sophisticated satellite, EagleEye, marking a significant leap in its space technology capabilities.
Pixabay LicenseImage by PIRO4D from Pixabay
Tomasz Barciński from the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) said that EagleEye, featuring the largest telescope ever used on a Polish satellite, will provide Poland with independent access to high-resolution Earth images for various applications, from agriculture to military observation.
Officials confirmed a successful launch shortly after 9 p.m. Warsaw time, saying that the capabilities developed through the EagleEye project could potentially be leveraged in future space missions, including lunar orbiters.
The images from EagleEye are expected to have superior resolution, reaching about 1 meter per pixel, and will be captured in both visible and infrared light.
„This pioneering device is the first Polish satellite with such a large telescope,” Barciński said, adding that „the applications could be very diverse.”
Developed from scratch due to limited available information on satellite construction, the EagleEye project faced significant challenges.
„Information about building satellites is limited,” Barciński explained. „The military doesn’t share it at all, and the industry only shares it to a limited extent … This secrecy necessitated the development of most technologies in-house.”
The satellite was built by a consortium of three entities. Creotech Instruments led the project and constructed the satellite platform. Scanway built the telescope that will observe Earth, and the Space Research Centre provided the telescope’s computer and developed the control algorithms.
One of the groundbreaking features of EagleEye is its onboard supercomputer, crucial for processing the images captured by the telescope.
Despite its small size, the computer boasts considerable processing power to handle tasks such as image compression and preliminary cloud-checks using artificial intelligence.
The launch of EagleEye enhances Poland’s capabilities in space technology and paves the way for future satellite projects that could be based on the HyperSat platform developed by Creotech.
This platform is versatile, akin to a car chassis that different systems can be installed on, which could lead to the development of other advanced satellites.
Barciński, who has been associated with the Space Research Centre since 2011 and specializes in control theory and mechatronics, underscored the importance of such initiatives.
He noted that while current technologies could also be applied to deep space missions, Polish satellites have much to explore in Earth’s orbit.
„In low Earth orbit, the magnetosphere protects the satellite from cosmic radiation,” he said. „Beyond it, radiation can easily damage various satellite components.
„In Poland, including at the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Centre, various technologies have been developed for different missions that can operate in deep space.
„Therefore, in the future, Polish orbiters, such as lunar ones, may be created based on this platform. However, at the moment, when it comes to Polish satellites, there are still many interesting places to utilize in low Earth orbit.”
(rt/gs)
