Poland has more than 300 companies active in its space technology sector, 10 times as many as five years ago, a government minister said on Thursday.

Poland's Enterprise and Technology Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz speaks at the Space Sector Forum 2018 conference in Warsaw on Thursday. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

“Five years ago we had fewer than 30 businesses that identified themselves with the space industry, while today we have over 300 such enterprises, most of them small and medium-sized,” Enterprise and Technology Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz said, as quoted by Poland’s PAP news agency.

Emilewicz spoke to PAP as she attended a conference of companies and institutions taking an active part in the development of this sector of the Polish economy, PAP reported.

The Polish government at the end of last year announced plans to plough more money into developing its space technology industry.

Emilewicz told PAP on Thursday that the successful contribution of a Polish company to NASA’s InSight mission testified to “the potential of the Polish space industry and the demand for its products.”

A hi-tech robotic device designed and built by innovative Warsaw-based company Astronika was in early May launched to Mars on board a NASA spacecraft.

The Space Sector Forum 2018 conference in Warsaw was held by an organisation of employers in Poland’s space technology sector, together with the country's Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Industrial Development Agency, PAP reported.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP