Poland’s complete four-satellite MikroGLOB Earth-observation constellation is now in orbit after three new Polish-built spacecraft successfully established two-way communications with the ground, the programme’s manufacturer and Poland’s Armament Agency confirmed on Friday. The milestone gives the Polish Armed Forces all four satellites ordered under the PLN 556.7 million programme, although months of testing and commissioning remain before the complete system is handed over to the Defence Ministry.
MikroGLOB-2, MikroGLOB-3 and MikroGLOB-4 were launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 1 October aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-18 rideshare mission. SpaceX launched the mission from Space Launch Complex 4E at 11:32 a.m. local time, carrying 130 payloads into low Earth orbit.
Creotech Instruments said the three Polish satellites separated from the launch vehicle and activated at around 21:30 Polish time. By the following morning, the company had established two-way communications with all three and received telemetry confirming the status of their onboard subsystems.
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They join MikroGLOB-1, which was launched on 7 July aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-17 mission. Creotech established two-way communications with that spacecraft the following day.
Poland’s Armament Agency said on Friday that the entire constellation procured for the armed forces is therefore now in orbit. Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the system would increase Poland’s ability to obtain reconnaissance and imaging data.
Four Polish-built reconnaissance satellites
MikroGLOB is a military Satellite Earth Observation System commissioned by Poland’s Armament Agency from Creotech Instruments in December 2024.
The contract covers four optoelectronic microsatellites built on Creotech’s Polish-developed HyperSat platform, together with the associated ground infrastructure. The satellites are designed to collect imagery in visible and near-infrared wavelengths and transmit it to the ground for military and government use.
The contract is worth approximately PLN 556.7 million gross and is co-financed through Poland’s National Recovery Plan. The Armament Agency said when the programme was ordered that its purpose was to expand the Polish Armed Forces’ ability to obtain reconnaissance information using their own optoelectronic Earth-observation system.
Unlike buying individual satellite images from external providers, owning a constellation gives Poland greater control over when its satellites are tasked and which areas they observe.
The Armament Agency has previously said the constellation will be tasked and managed in line with the current imagery requirements of the Polish Armed Forces and the Polish government.
That does not mean Poland will cease using allied or commercial satellite intelligence. MikroGLOB instead adds a nationally controlled source of optical imagery to the broader mix of reconnaissance capabilities available to the country.
Satellites are in orbit — but system is not operational yet
Reaching orbit successfully is a major programme milestone, but it is not the same as declaring the complete constellation operational.
Creotech has now begun the commissioning phase, during which the spacecraft and their subsystems are progressively configured, calibrated and tested in orbital conditions. The company said the process includes detailed verification of the systems needed to perform the satellites’ full mission.
An engineering camera aboard MikroGLOB-4 has already returned an image showing its deployed solar panels, with what Creotech described as probably an aurora visible in the background.
The programme also includes a ground segment divided into mission-control and image-processing elements. The mission-control system is designed to communicate with the satellites and receive telemetry and imagery, which will then be passed to a dedicated processing system.
Creotech says the complete MikroGLOB system is scheduled to be finished and transferred to Poland’s Defence Ministry by 31 March 2027. Detailed technical specifications have not been publicly released because the programme concerns what the company describes as Poland’s essential state-security interests.
Building Poland’s own military space infrastructure
MikroGLOB is one element of a much broader Polish investment in military satellite reconnaissance.
Poland has been developing ARGUS — the Geospatial Intelligence and Satellite Services Agency — as a central military organisation for processing, analysing, archiving and distributing satellite reconnaissance products and for managing satellite systems. Poland’s General Staff has described the agency as part of the country’s attempt to build military capabilities in space as a recognised operational domain.
Poland is also acquiring other satellite systems with different characteristics. In 2022 it ordered two very-high-resolution optical satellites from Airbus Defence and Space, while the separate MikroSAR programme is building a constellation of synthetic-aperture radar satellites capable of collecting imagery regardless of cloud cover or daylight.
Those systems are intended to complement one another rather than perform identical tasks. Optical satellites can provide detailed imagery in visible and near-infrared wavelengths, while radar satellites provide another layer of observation under conditions in which optical sensors may be limited.
For Creotech, completing deployment of the four MikroGLOB satellites also represents a significant industrial milestone. The company says the entire constellation reached orbit 21 months after the contract was signed, using a satellite platform developed in Poland.
The immediate next step is less visible but equally important: proving in orbit that all four satellites and the ground infrastructure can work together reliably enough for the Defence Ministry to accept the finished system.
