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Polish Space Agency eyes collaboration with NASA

03.10.2020 15:05
The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) is in talks with NASA over  joint projects in space exploration, Poland’s news agency PAP reported on Saturday. 
A rover at Polands European Rover Challenge
A rover at Poland's European Rover Challenge Source PAP/Piotr Polak

The prospective collaboration may include building devices and instruments for space missions, POLSA’s Aleksandra Bukała was quoted as saying. "We are currently discussing a potential partnership with NASA and we do not rule out that it could also cover start-ups," she added.

POLSA has collaborated with NASA mainly as a subcontractor for its European partners including the German Aerospace Center (DLR) or within the European Space Agency (ESA) of which Poland has been a member since 2012, Bukała explained.

Last year Poland subscribed to joint projects to the tune of  EUR 6 million to be run over the next three years, largely in cooperation with NASA, according to Bukała.

In 2019 POLSA signed a Joint Statement on Cooperation in Space Exploration with NASA during an International Astronautical Congress in Washington.

As proof of  the Polish space industry’s potential and demand for its products, she cited a successful contribution to NASA’s InSight mission. A hi-tech robotic device designed and built by innovative Warsaw-based company Astronika was in 2018 launched to Mars  onboard NASA spacecraft. Moreover, detectors produced  by Vigo Systems worked onboard the Martian Curiosity Rover while PIAP Space is delivering robotic components to be used on the Mars Sample Return mission.

(mo)

Source: PAP