A Polish satellite was among 119 payloads launched into low Earth orbit. The rocket’s first stage — on its twelfth flight — successfully landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” platform in the Pacific. Poland now has a second spy satellite in orbit — another element of the POLSARI constellation, a system that gives the Polish army its own eyes capable of photographing any point on Earth with a resolution of up to 16 centimeters, regardless of weather or time of day. Poland is strengthening its position in the narrow club of countries possessing sovereign satellite reconnaissance capabilities — and it is doing so from an American space base, one hundred kilometers from Los Angeles.
What went into orbit
The MikroSAR satellite is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) developed by the Finnish company ICEYE in cooperation with the Polish state defense group PGZ and its company Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności nr 1. SAR technology allows for creating images of the Earth’s surface through clouds, in fog, at night — in conditions where traditional optical satellites are blind. A resolution of up to 16 centimeters — made possible by ICEYE’s fourth-generation technology — means that from orbit, one can identify a car model, type of military equipment, or changes in infrastructure — a level of detail until recently available only to the largest military powers. This is already the second Polish MikroSAR satellite in orbit — the first was successfully launched on November 28, 2025, as part of the SpaceX Transporter-15 mission.
The launch was announced by Deputy Minister of National Defense Cezary Tomczyk on platform X: another step in building independent satellite reconnaissance capabilities for the Polish Armed Forces. The satellite will be managed from the Satellite Operations Center (COS) of the ARGUS Geospatial Intelligence and Satellite Services Agency, which achieved operational readiness in early March in Warsaw, and from the Satellite Mission Control Center at the Military University of Technology.
Billion-zloty program
MikroSAR is part of a contract worth approximately 860 million zlotys (236 million dollars), which provides for the delivery of at least three satellites with an option for three more. Poland is thus building a constellation capable of regularly monitoring selected areas — not a single flyover once every few days, but a system providing a continuous picture of the situation. In parallel, Poland is awaiting two observation satellites ordered from Airbus as part of a joint constellation with France, scheduled for launch in 2027. The value of this contract is approximately 575 million euros.
In addition, there is the Polish private company Eycore, which is preparing its own SAR satellite — Eycore-1, with a planned launch at the end of April. If the mission succeeds, Eycore will become the second private European company to have a SAR technology satellite in orbit. This entire program — military and commercial — means that Poland has gone from a country with no orbital presence to a state with a growing reconnaissance constellation within a few months.
Why it’s important — and why now
The context is clear: the war in Ukraine and the escalation in the Middle East. Poland, as NATO’s eastern flank, needs its own reconnaissance capabilities for a simple reason — it cannot rely solely on data from allies whose attention and resources may be shifted to another theater of operations at any moment. As Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the opening of the Mission Control Center: heavy equipment is needed, but Poland’s secure future lies in modern technologies — cyberspace, space, artificial intelligence, and drones.
SAR satellites also have dual use — military and civilian. They can monitor the effects of natural disasters, track illegal logging, control borders, or support emergency services. For the Polish space industry — companies such as Creotech Instruments, SatRev, or Eycore — this is the beginning of a journey that can make Poland one of the key players in the space sector in Central Europe.
Vandenberg — a Polish rocket from an American base
The launch takes place from Vandenberg Space Force Base — a United States Space Force base located on the Pacific coast of California, about 250 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles. For the Polish diaspora in America, this is a special moment: a Polish military satellite launches from American soil, on an American rocket, as part of an alliance that has united both countries for over twenty-five years, since Poland’s membership in NATO. This is not abstract geopolitics — it is concrete technology, a concrete rocket, and a concrete orbit that this morning will change the defense capabilities of the country from which the grandparents and parents of millions of Polish Americans came.
Editorial Staff, Głos Polonii w USA
MikroSAR launched on March 30, 2026, 7:02 AM ET (4:02 AM PT / 1:02 PM Polish time). Vandenberg Base, California. SpaceX Transporter-16 mission, Falcon 9 rocket. First stage landing: “Of Course I Still Love You” platform, Pacific.
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