“There are chances, there are risks as well. And this is a moment that everyone was expecting to come. A moment when ESA says <<I want to check it>>. This was a preparatory programme, during which the companies should have learned as to how to prepare proper requests for ESA and how to develop certain technologies that should be utilized in the future” - Jacek Mandas, CEO at the Astri Polska company discusses the fact that, in 2019, the Polish Industrial Incentive Scheme (PLIIS) programme is scheduled to come to an end. The interview also covers the matters related to Space 4.0, national space programme and plans made by Astri Polska for the upcoming years.
Price/cost of entering typically space-related services is going down drastically, and thus we are drastically expanding the quantity of entities that may participate in the said market. And this is happening, we’re already observing that. When planning the business activities, companies such as Astri Polska are taking this ever changing reality into account.
In my humble opinion, there is one thing still missing, when it comes to the Polish market, we are still missing a major programme that could be run by the public administration, that could, in some way, make use of the satellite data, I did not want to say that it should force people to do so, but it should make use of the satellite data. And this does not refer to a programme that would be a training programme for the administration, as the public administration, at the operational level, is perfectly aware of how this data could be used, really appreciating it.
Downstream is a relevant part of the Polish Space Programme’s draft, and making use of satellite and space applications, space data. Here the question should be asked, whether the assumptions made within the programme would be met, meaning, whether the budgets that are assumed in the programme actually would be available. We agree to most of this document directly, that it is a very well directed document, however, there’s always a question concerning the money.