The Polish EagleEye satellite is losing altitude and has communication problems

The latest information about the Polish satellite

EagleEye is currently in a very low orbit (VLEO), which in August was only about 300 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Such a low orbit causes the satellite to be subject to significant atmospheric resistance, which leads to a systematic decline in its trajectory and inevitable deorbitation. According to POLSA's analyses, EagleEye is not expected to fly over Polish territory in the near future, although the satellite will fly over other European Union countries.

The object is still listed as active, with no official entry date recorded in public databases such as CelesTrak or Space-Track. Due to dynamically changing conditions in orbit, the exact moment of entry into the Earth's atmosphere may change, and its precise determination depends, among others, on: on solar activity and the ballistic coefficient of the satellite.

The EagleEye satellite was launched on August 16, 2024 from the Vandenberg base on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-11 mission. At the time of launch, it was the largest Polish satellite, its main task was to observe the Earth in high resolution, about a meter per pixel, both in the visible and near infrared bands. The project was created in a consortium consisting of Creotech Instruments S.A. (project leader and manufacturer of the HyperSat platform), Scanway (telescope supplier) and the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

It wasn't without problems

The initial phase of the mission went according to plan. At the end of August 2024, there were serious problems with two-way communication with the satellite. Analyzes identified two main possible sources of these difficulties: inaccuracy in determining the satellite's position, which resulted in incorrect positioning of the ground antenna, and a shortage of on-board electrical power. In the case of the first problem, the differences in orbital readings provided by different entities were up to 100 kilometers, while the data collection cone by the ground-based antenna was 18 km. Such a large discrepancy made it significantly difficult to establish stable communication.

The second problem was with the power system. Its security features destabilized operation in some cases, leading to reduced battery charging efficiency. A software correction was developed, but due to lack of communication it could not be sent to the satellite.