Scanway – we’re on a highway to… stars

Most people associate the space industry with giants like NASA, SpaceX, or Chinese Shenzou. Truth be told that USA, China, and Russia rule the market. However, our own Polish patch has companies that can play a pivotal role in space research. Scanway S.A. is a disruptive concept from Wrocław initiated a few years ago by students. It went from an idea to a thriving company in the Polish space market.

Today, Scanway is a team of experienced engineers, specialists in vision technology: opticians, programmers, FPGA specialists, mechatronics technicians, and automation specialists. The company offers optical instruments/devices for space vehicles and specializes in machine vision in quality control. The products are used for observation, imaging, and analysis images. Scanway also provides telescopes for Earth observation which are famous for scalability, modularity, and the possibility of customizing the imaging results to your own needs and goals. The company also produces machine vision that can work, study the orbital infrastructure condition, and monitor production and servicing processes in space conditions. The company’s activities contribute to popularising the Industry 4.0 philosophy through automation and optimization of quality control processes in the automotive, printing, packaging, food, and medical industry.

The University of Wrocław is establishing an academic, didactic, and most importantly economic collaboration with Scanway. Over a few meetings, which took place between scientists from UWr and the company representatives, some collaboration perspectives were set. Dr hab. Robert Falewicz, who is the manager of the Astronomical Institute, talked about joint research on space observation of stars, the Sun, or other objects in the Solar System. Our scientists will be able to take part in telescope prototyping process, collimation of optical systems, numeral simulations, or astronomical object testing. A paramount aspect of the collaboration will be the sphere of satellite data analysis. It is a very dynamically developing field of industry. Today, that data is used in agriculture, monitoring changes in soil use, monitoring cities, and air quality.

The meeting with prof. dr hab. Tomasz Niedzielski, the Department of Geoinformatics, Cartography and Remote Sensing’s representative, was equally fruitful. During that meeting, Niedzielski discussed providing images and analysis of specialist data in hydrology, river flow, and flood threats. Similar initiatives are also planned in archeology and geology.

The idea of building and launching a satellite that can allow us not only to observe Earth but also would bring us closer to objects in space. The space program is a joint priority. Scanway has a lot of experience in this field because, at the beginning of this year, they launched a satellite called STAR VIBE which flies over Wrocław twice a day.

Except for space talk, student practice, introductory doctorates, or postgraduate studies were discussed.

We signed the collaboration agreement at Scanway headquarters in Wrocław Technology Park, where we could also see their laboratories. We managed to collaborate thanks to prof. dr hab. Artur Błażejewski, the prorector for academic research, dr Anna Michalewska, manager in the Department for Education, and dr Justyna Czeszejko-Sochacka from the Technology Transfer Center at the University of Wrocław. We would like to invite all scientists from UWr who are interested in space, optics, and Earth observation to create joint initiatives.

Translated by Anna Kobylowska (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.