Elon Mask’s SpaceX company’s Falcon 9 rocket launched Poland’s largest and most advanced EagleEye satellite to orbit on August 16. The rocket’s launch took place in California at 8:56 p.m. Polish time, with the satellite separation occurring around 10:14 p.m.
The launch was broadcast live. (You can watch the entire event here). The separation was successful, as was the key milestone of the mission – establishing communication with the satellite. In the near future, the Creotech Instruments team will focus on testing and calibrating the satellite’s components in real space conditions. This will be an important step to fully launch all the satellite’s functions and prepare it for operational tasks.
The EagleEye satellite was developed by an industrial-research consortium led by Creotech Instruments SA in collaboration with Scanway SA and the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Creotech was responsible for the construction of the satellite platform called HyperSat (where all the satellite’s components are placed), as well as the integration of the satellite. Scanway SA built the telescope, which will provide the images of Earth’s surface from an altitude of about 350 km. CBK PAN developed the computer that operates the telescope and the algorithms controlling the satellite.
