Polish Space Situational Awareness System Is Being Developed

6PLN 3 Million – Monitoring the Outer Space

Besides the consequently and consistently realized strategy, in line with which Creotech Instruments is willing to become the national integrator of the satellite systems, the Piaseczno-based company is also expanding the qualifications in the area of monitoring the outer space. Creotech is already involved in a number of initiatives related to monitoring of the outer space, including mapping of the space debris trajectories and monitoring the natural space objects which could potentially assume a collision course with Earth. The company is also getting ready to take part in more programmes within that area.

The latest one has a value of more than PLN 3 million. It has begun in April, and it concerns construction of an automated space surveillance and tracking system. The programme is being realized within the framework of State Defence and Security programme, managed by the National Centre for Research and Development. The consortium responsible for implementing the initiative includes the Air Force Institute of Technology, acting as the leader, along with Creotech Instruments S.A. and Military University of Technology.

Poland In the SST Programme

Back in 2014 Poland took a decision to get involved in the SST  (Space Surveillance and Tracking) programme announced by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. Implementation of that programme is going to make it possible to observe the space traffic and to avoid collisions involving probes and satellites, and so called space debris. What is more, the European programme for assisting the surveillance and tracking will make it possible to monitor and control the displacement of satellites or armament which remain in the outer space, and for tracking the cases in which uncontrolled re-entry takes place, in case of the space-craft and their components.

The initiative also expected to make it possible to effectively counteract attacks directed against the European satellite communications.
In July 2015, the National Centre for Research and Development announced a competition, the aim of which is to create an automated system for optical monitoring and tracking the objects located in the outer space, under the name of SST PL. It is going to provide Poland with capabilities, within the scope of monitoring the space objects, particularly the satellites, which has a key value for national defence and security. Mariusz Andrzejczak, Vice-President of the Creotech Instruments S.A. company, is convinced that such system is needed by Poland.

The Earth’s orbit is getting more and more busy, since more countries are placing their satellites and research instruments there. Among the systems sent into space, numerous serve military purposes and are used to obtain intelligence. As a state which has defined aspirations pertaining to the international policy, planning to create own optronic observation satellite system, we need to be able to monitor the objects that could possibly collide with our satellites. SST system will also make it possible to detect the objects which re-enter the atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner, such as the ballistic missiles or bolides.

SST PL is also going to make it possible for Poland to join the EU SST consortium, and to get actively involved in the construction works related to the European SST system. Thanks to the fact above Poland would get full access to the data gathered by the elements of the system, and the domestic companies will be able to get involved in expansion and construction of the European segment.

National Sky Observation System Using Two Telescopes

Within the framework of the  SST-PL project realized by the National Centre for Research and Development, two telescopes will be created, with a wide and narrow fields of view, making it possible to detect and assess the status of the objects remaining in the outer space, in low orbits. Elements of the observational orbits of the satellites will be precisely defined, and a relevant database resource is going to be created within that scope.

Thanks to the precise observation, defining and evaluating the status of the satellites will also be possible. The whole system is going to be automated. Creotech Instruments will supply one of the key elements of the suite, an extremely sensitive CCD sensor camera for the long focal length telescope.

We hope that the system developed within the project will be the first one of the type, and that more would be ordered, after the pioneer solution is tested. We are also convinced that the implementation will have a referential value, and that the level of optimization will be high enough to be replicated within the framework of the European Space Situation Awareness programme.

The SST programme will allow Poland to acquire capacity to monitor the outer space and prevent satellite collisions, and collisions with other objects remaining in orbit, and provide security for our own systems that are going to be placed in the outer space in the future.
Moreover, SST will also make it possible to track the activity of the other countries in the outer space, also when it comes to placing the satellites in the orbit, including the space satellites, placing space-craft in the orbit, and re-entry of such spacecraft. The system is also going to enable Poland to monitor other elements impacting the national defence and security.