On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, during the 3rd ESA Security Conference, the Polish company Creotech Instruments from Piaseczno announced that it had signed a contract worth 51,925,511 EUR (222.559 million PLN) with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the construction of a national constellation of at least three Earth observation satellites as part of the National Earth Observation Project CAMILA (Country Awareness Mission in Land Analysis).
Photo: Creotech Instruments
A constellation of at least three Polish Earth observation satellites will be developed as part of this mission—one radar satellite, one high-resolution optical satellite, and one lower-resolution optical satellite—along with ground infrastructure and a system to manage the entire space mission. Creotech Instruments serves as the main contractor for the system, working in close collaboration with leading companies from the Polish space sector, including CloudFerro S.A., Eycore, GMV Innovating Solutions, KP Labs, and Scanway.
“This is another milestone on the path toward building independent national space capabilities. We are proud to lead this groundbreaking project and thank ESA and the Ministry of Development and Technology for their trust,” reads the press release from Creotech Instruments.
“CAMILA is a project of strategic importance, both for Creotech Instruments and for the entire European space sector. It is not only a confirmation of our technological maturity and our capabilities in executing the most advanced satellite missions, but also a strong expression of trust in our business model and in the Polish satellite platform called HyperSat, which we have been developing over the past few years. We are deeply honored by this recognition,” said Grzegorz Brona, CEO of Creotech Instruments.
Creotech Instruments will act as the project leader and the supplier of complete satellite platforms equipped with optical and radar payloads provided by selected partners. The goal of the CAMILA project is to build a constellation of at least three Earth observation satellites and a ground segment, launch the satellites, and manage the mission. The project will be carried out from April 2025 and is scheduled for completion in December 2027. The total value of the project is 51,925,511 EUR, of which 25,594,951 EUR (109.703 million PLN) is allocated to Creotech Instruments.
The National Earth Observation Project CAMILA (Country Awareness Mission in Land Analysis) is the result of an agreement between the Ministry of Development and Technology and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed on October 30, 2023. Satellite data is currently used in areas such as spatial planning, agriculture, crisis management, and environmental protection. The plan includes the development of at least four satellites (three electro-optical and one radar). The program’s total budget amounts to 85 million EUR (364.32 million PLN).
The growing importance of outer space continues to drive technological and scientific progress across many sectors of the economy, and indirectly, it also affects all of our lives. In spatial planning, satellite data is used for land-use planning and spatial management. In agriculture, remote sensing enables the estimation of crop areas, identification of crop species, yield forecasting, and the analysis and prediction of drought impacts.
In the field of road infrastructure, satellite data can be used to analyze changes in surface properties, assess wear and tear, and predict potential risks such as damage or deterioration. In water management, satellite data helps assess flood risks and develop crisis response strategies. It also enables the monitoring of inland waters, seas, and oceans.
In crisis management, in addition to the above-mentioned applications, satellite data can be used to analyze the impact of hazardous events such as floods, fires, and storms, as well as to monitor border security. These data are also crucial in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Beyond supporting current military operations, they are used to estimate economic losses, including predicting crop yield reductions resulting from the conflict.
It is worth recalling that on April 10 of this year, a strategic partnership was announced between Thorium Space and Creotech Instruments for the development of the first Polish telecommunications satellite.