Public Action Supports Poland Joining ESA

Following the Ministry of Finance blocking the acceptance of Poland into the European Space Agency (ESA), a public action has been initiated to overturn this decision.
PW-Sat integration (Credits: Andrzej Kotarba).
Poland and ESA held successful negotiations regarding the technical aspects of the nation’s inclusion in the first quarter of 2012, sending the ball to the Polish government’s court for the final decision. The time margin is minimal, as the agreement has to be signed well in advance of this November’s ministerial council for Poland to be able to participate. It is worth noting that Poland has signed the Date Cooperating State (ECS) Agreement in April 2007 and the PECS charter one year later. Even though Poland is not yet a full member state, it has benefited from cooperating with ESA.
According to the official ESA website, Poland runs 15 projects under the PECS agreement, with significant participation in Earth Observation. Moreover, on February 13 of this year the first Polish satellite PW-Sat, built by students from the Warsaw University of Technology, was launched into space by ESA’s Vega rocket. Two more satellites are planned to launch over the next year, with a big contribution from young engineers, alumni of ...