Polish Space Agency is one of the contractors in the satellite project Sat4Envi

According to the Polish Space Agency release, the project has received over PLN 17.9 million funding under the Operational Programme Digital Poland. The money comes from the European funds (84.63%) and the state budget (15.5%).

The objective of the project "Operating system for gathering, sharing and promotion of digital information about the environment" (Sat4Envi) is to create "infrastructure for receiving, storing, processing and distributing data from Sentinel-1, -2, -3 satellites and satellite products based on them" using the existing resources of the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management.

"Thanks to its implementation, data from, among others, Copernicus program missions available for Poland will be used by public administration agencies in their activities related to environmental protection, spatial planning, urban development and the development of transport networks, and by private entities - to create commercial services" - reads the release.

Sat4Envi will be implemented by a consortium led by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management. The consortium members are the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Academic Computer Centre Cyfronet AGH and the Polish Space Agency. The tasks of the Polish Space Agency include developing an educational and training program concerning the use of satellite data by public administration agencies, and providing support for the project's promotional activities.

"Currently, the most important recipient of satellite imagery is public administration. To increase the scale of its use of the satellite data, we must provide officials with the appropriate tools, but also show them how to use those tools to improve the quality and efficiency of daily work in offices" - says Col. Piotr Suszyński, Vice President for Defence at POLSA, quoted in the release. He ads that the latter task is the responsibility of the Polish Space Agency as one of the Sat4Envi project contractors.

According to POLSA, this includes trainings for senior and middle-level decision-makers of the public administration, as well as specialist training for specialists. "This training will be provided to employees of local government units: communes, poviats and marshal offices, as well as employees of government administration and its subordinate or supervised institutions" - reads the release. POLSA will also be responsible for "the preparation of a study promoting the use of satellite data for the development of efficient administration". The publication will include a presentation of modern satellite technologies in the field of navigation, telecommunications and Earth observation, as well as a description of the possibilities and best practices associated with the use of satellite data in public tasks.

The program is expected to be implemented at the turn of 2020. According to the release, "the work related to its creation will be conducted by the Department of Military Satellite Technologies of the Polish Space Agency".

The Polish Space Agency is a governmental executive body subordinate to the Prime Minister. It was established pursuant to the Law of 26 September 2014. The Agency participates in the pursuit of Poland's strategic goals and supports the use of satellite systems and the development of space technologies. The key tasks of POLSA include: coordinating the activity of the Polish space sector at the national and international level, representing Poland in contacts with international space sector organizations, supporting domestic scientific and business projects related to space technologies, as well as activities that promote the wider use of satellite technologies in public administration and increase of the country's defence potential. (PAP)

author: Magdalena Jarco

editor: Dorota Skrobisz

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