Norwegian defence and technology company Kongsberg has signed a contract with Poland's meteorological institute IMGW-PIB (Institute of Meteorology and Water Management) for the delivery of a new ground station for receiving and processing satellite data.
According to Kongsberg, the system will be installed in Kraków, Poland, during autumn 2026, and will enable IMGW to receive, process and distribute data from, among others, the Copernicus programme's Sentinel satellites as well as several meteorological satellite missions in polar orbit.
In a press release, IMGW states that the new facility will strengthen the institute's operational capabilities within national meteorological and hydrological services.
"The implementation of an additional satellite data reception system will significantly strengthen our operational capabilities and enable us to perform our national meteorological and hydrological services even more efficiently," says Artur Rutkowski, head of the satellite remote sensing department at IMGW.
The system is based on Kongsberg's MEOS technology and includes antenna infrastructure, signal processing, data storage, and tools for the analysis and distribution of satellite data. The solution will also be capable of automatically processing radar data from Sentinel-1 into products compatible with the European Space Agency (ESA).
"We are proud to continue our collaboration with IMGW and to support their mission with advanced ground segment capabilities," says Per-Erik Kristoffersen, Senior Vice President for Space and Surveillance at Kongsberg, in the press release.
The new contract builds on a previous project that Kongsberg delivered to Poland in 2020, which has since been operated under a five-year service and support agreement.
According to Kongsberg, the new ground station will contribute to improved capabilities for weather forecasting, environmental monitoring and climate analysis in Poland.
