On February 2, 2018 the Institute of Aviation held a meeting with the European Space Agency representatives along with the acting director of the Institute of Aviation, Leszek Loroch, PhD Eng. and representatives of the Department of Space Technology. The meeting was attended by three employees of the Institute who have work experience at the main ESA technology office – ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Center). The visit was part of the meeting with the Polish delegation. The Institute of Aviation was chosen as one of the four main research centers operating in the ESA programs in Poland.
In the field of rocket propulsion alone, the Institute of Aviation already has in its portoflio 12 projects from the European Space Agency and the European Commission programs, participation in five different ESA technology programs, including experience in winning in European open competitions.
Ecological satellite propulsions as well as satellite and rockets deorbitation are the main areas of research and commercialization at the Institute of Aviation in the field of space technologies. The Institute’s narrow specialization has made it possible to concentrate resources and effectively operate in ESA projects.
The ESA representatives reassured that rocket propulsion is one of the most promising areas for Poland. This confirms the words of ESA delegation at the International Conference on Development Trends in Space Propulsion Systems at the end of 2017.
More about present and past ESA projects carried out at the Institute of Aviation:
- Assessment of High Performance Green Propellants – HPGP
- Pre-Qualification of Aluminium-Free Solid Propellant – ASPro
- CleanSat: Technology assessment and Concurrent engineering in support of LEO platform evolutions
- GRACE – Green Bi-propellant Apogee rocket engine
