A consortium of Polish state-owned and private companies has completed a successful test flight of a three-stage suborbital rocket designed to carry research payloads above the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space. The programme, launched in early 2020, received approximately 18.6 million zł (€4.1 million) in European Regional Development Fund support.
The consortium is led by state-owned aerospace firm WZL-1 and includes the Ministry of Defence’s Military Institute of Armament Technology (WITU) and defence manufacturer ZPS Gamrat. Although the primary objective is to deploy scientific payloads into space, WITU has said the technologies under development could also support future anti-aircraft or tactical missile programmes.
Testing began in April 2025 with a single-stage version of the rocket to verify the solid-propellant motor and core flight systems. On 24 October 2024, Deputy Minister of National Defence Cezary Tomczyk announced the first successful flight of the full three-stage vehicle from the Central Air Force Training Range in Ustka. Tomczyk said the rocket reached a planned altitude of 65 kilometres, “achieving all intended objectives” during the mission.
Reports indicate the test was the second suborbital success from Ustka within the same week. Polish rocket builder SpaceForest is believed to have completed the maiden flight of its PERUN suborbital rocket on 22 November, following two aborted attempts in 2023 and a propulsion redesign co-financed by the European Space Agency. The company has not yet publicly confirmed the test.
The milestone follows additional progress in Poland’s rapidly developing space sector. In July 2024, the ILR-33 Amber 2K—developed by the Łukasiewicz Institute of Aviation—became the first domestically built Polish rocket to reach space. Launched from Norway’s Andøya Space Centre, the hybrid-propulsion vehicle reached an altitude of 101 kilometres.
