The students of the Warsaw University of Technology received a special award for the integration and launch of the satellite PW-Sat2. The award is presented to a company, an event or an individual for the greatest contribution to the advancement of the space industry.

PW-Sat2 was carried aboard a Falcon 9 rocket which was launched on December 3, 2018. The key objective of the satellite’s mission was to test an innovative deorbit sail. The solution is designed to shrink the satellite lifetime in the orbit for those satellites which have completed their missions and, therefore, to prevent space debris.

Earlier than originally planned, PW-Sat2 unfolded its deorbit sail on December 29, 2018. The mission is now in its final stage, which is the observation of the satellite orbit degradation. The experiment will come to a close with the complete combustion of PW-Sat2 in the upper layers of the atmosphere.

The satellite’s mission has already made history – and not just because it has tested the innovative deorbiting technology; on December 5, 2018, PW-Sat2 took Poland’s first ever satellite picture.

For more about PW-Sat2, visit the project’s dedicated website

Other winners of the “Konstelacje 2018” competition beside the Astronautic Student Research Group were Astronika Sp. z o.o. (Space Company of the Year); ICEYE Polska Sp. z o.o. (International Success) and Gordon Wasilewski, a research scientist of the Polish Academy of Sciences Space Research Center (CBK PAN) and a scholar of Colorado School of Mines (Rising Star of the Space Industry).

The winners were selected by the Competition Jury composed of: Jadwiga Emilewicz (Chair of the Jury; Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology), Piotr Dardziński (Secretary of State, Ministry of Science and Higher Education), Dariusz Śliwowski (Vice-President of the Management Board, ARP S.A.), Iwona Stanisławska (Director of the Space Research Center), Michał Szaniawski (Consultant to Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology), Robert Nowicki (Head of Cabinet of Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology) and Bartosz Sokoliński (Head of Development and Innovation Office, ARP S.A.).

The “Konstelacje 2018” statuettes were handed out on March 4, 2019 at the offices of the Industrial Development Agency.

For more information about the competition, go to the Industrial Development Agency’s website