The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:44 a.m. local time, carrying several Polish dual-use satellites intended for both military and civilian applications, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The payload included a radar-imaging satellite built by the Polish-Finnish company Iceye and a trio of nanosatellites developed as part of the Piast programme, it said.
"They’re off! The Polish MikroSAR military satellite and the Piast satellites have been carried into space by the Falcon 9. For the rocket it’s just 500 kilometres—for Poland it’s a giant leap into the future," Tusk wrote on X.
Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the launch marked a breakthrough for Poland’s armed forces, making the country “the first in Central and Eastern Europe with a comprehensive military satellite reconnaissance system.”
The Iceye satellite uses radar technology that allows for continuous Earth surface monitoring regardless of weather or lighting conditions, its builders say.
It is designed to observe military, transport and energy infrastructure, scan the Baltic Sea and Poland’s borders, and—in the event of war—track enemy troop movements, detect concealed equipment and assess battlefield damage.
The General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces said the launch was a "historic moment" and a "game changer" for reconnaissance and targeting capabilities.
The satellite’s data, it added, will also support crisis response operations such as monitoring natural disasters.
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Source: IAR, PAP