An interview with Rafał Modrzewski, Chief Executive Officer at ICEYE.

The Polish Armed Forces already have four MikroSAR satellites. Just one year passed from when you signed the contract for their delivery to handing over full operational control of the system to the military. Record pace.

Rafał Modrzewski: Indeed, we fulfilled the contract very quickly.

Do you feel satisfaction?

Huge satisfaction. All the more so because we successfully completed a complex, multi-stage process. The satellites had to be prepared for the mission, placed in orbit, and properly configured. No one has ever completed a similar task in less time than we have now. This is also a sign of how quickly the space technology market is changing. ICEYE builds satellites in series, according to a design with a particular specification, although certain parameters can obviously undergo modifications. Either way, our client buys a ready-made product off the shelf, which significantly cuts costs and time associated with putting the equipment into service.

So what capabilities do your MikroSAR satellites provide to the Polish military?

They take images of the Earth’s surface using radar technology, which enables them to operate effectively both day and night, and, most importantly – regardless of weather conditions. Unlike in the case of optical satellites, even a thick layer of clouds is not an obstacle to them. The satellites we delivered to the Polish military provide images at very high resolution – 25 cm per pixel, which means that various types of objects can be easily identified. The images make it possible to track movements of potential enemy forces and plan effective strikes.

Currently, data accuracy and continuity of information delivery are of key importance. The war in Ukraine has shown that satellite systems are already used not only at the strategic and operational level, but also at the tactical level. Satellite images often help make decisions on the movements of individual subunits. Therefore, it is important for the military to have access to them almost in real time; and a constellation consisting of several dozen satellites makes it possible to take pictures of the area of interest every 20–30 minutes.

The Polish army is still in the process of building its constellation, but it has taken the first important step on that path. We delivered high-quality devices, which in their category are a bit like the F-35 among aircraft, and it’s no exaggeration. ICEYE satellites have been repeatedly praised, for example by our partners from the US National Reconnaissance Office. Our devices provide the highest-quality radar images, captured in various conditions.

You mentioned the war in Ukraine. To what extent has it affected your work?

Significantly. First and foremost, the war in Ukraine resulted in the modification of military doctrines. The first revolution was the mass use of drones on the battlefield, the second – the already mentioned use of satellite systems at the tactical level. We’ve had the opportunity to test all our new solutions in real conditions, since ICEYE provides data to the Ukrainian army. Therefore, I can guarantee that the technologies we offer to the Polish military are fully functional and tested in the best possible way.

Polish soldiers have now taken over responsibility for operating the satellites you delivered. Do you still provide support to them in any other way?

The active support program has already ended. I would compare it to a driving course combined with a car sale. We hand over the car, show how to operate it, then we ride in the passenger seat for some time, watching how the trainee, and at the same time the new owner, is doing. Still, in the end, we leave him to handle things on his own. Of course, in the event of a collision, the owner can always call us for help. That is more or less the situation.

What next? In 2025, you signed a contract for the delivery of three satellites with an option to deliver additional three. Currently, we already have four of them in orbit.

We’re very proud that the Polish Armed Forces have chosen us to accompany them in taking the first independent step into outer space. I can’t go into details, but I hope that the cooperation with the army will be long-lasting. We surely have a lot of ideas for it.

Space is a hostile work environment, which is why the satellite fleet must be systematically renewed: more advanced devices must be added and the oldest ones must be removed from orbit in a controlled manner. This process has another, more important advantage: each successive generation of devices is better than the previous one. Replacing the fleet is therefore not a maintenance cost, but an opportunity to improve data quality, resolution, and observation frequency. The constellation orbiting today will be gradually modernized – what we see now is only the beginning.

The world is changing rapidly, and the importance of tactical satellite reconnaissance is growing. If the military doesn’t want to stay behind, they have to expand their resources. Future constellations will be made up of several dozen, a hundred or more satellites: radar, optical, and SIGINT. Everyone is moving in this direction: the USA, India, Japan, Middle Eastern countries, and Europe. I assume that Poland will do the same.

Come to think of it, just a few decades ago space technologies were reserved for the greatest world powers, today even small states reach for them. Seems like a true revolution.

Which will continue. At the beginning of the 20th century, when the airplane designed by the Wright brothers first took to the air, Graham Alexander Bell said: »The nation that secures control of the air will ultimately control the world.« Today, in a sense, the same can be said about outer space. States will increasingly try to assert their presence in this domain, because it will determine the degree of their security, and in the extreme case – the course of future wars.

We are probably talking about more than just the orbit.

Definitely. However, exploration of the Moon, Mars, and possible battles fought in outer space is a more or less distant future, reserved, for now at least, for the greatest world powers. We should focus on the place where we are currently – which is the beginning of the journey.