The success of the Perun rocket and a new era for the Polish space industry.
by Sámuel Kálló
On November 24, 2024, a three-stage rocket took off from the Ustka Central Air Force Training Range, which marked a historic moment for Poland. The Perun rocket, developed by SpaceForest in Gdynia, met all flight objectives: it stably reached an altitude of 65 kilometers, the Kármán line (named after the Hungarian scientist), which is the internationally recognized boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. Cezary Tomczyk, Poland’s Deputy Minister of National Defense, announced the breakthrough, which opened a new chapter in the country’s space exploration based on independent developments.
This achievement is also noteworthy because SpaceForest had already made two attempts before this: in 2023, a single-stage version successfully climbed to an altitude of 22 kilometers, but with the full three-stage system, the flight was aborted twice. Design modifications funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and a redesigned propulsion system finally yielded the expected result. This successful flight is not only a technical achievement, but also a symbol of Poland's geopolitical and economic aspirations: the country's efforts to reduce its dependence on other space powers and build its own space capabilities.
SpaceForest was founded on May 12, 2004 in the Pomorski Science and Technology Park in Gdynia, led by brothers Robert and Andrzej Magierów. Initially, they worked on the development of microwave electronics and radar systems, but slowly expanded their activities to space technology. The company first made a name for itself in automation, the design of synthetic aperture radars (SAR) and the development of space electronics.
The turn towards space rockets began in the late 2010s, when SpaceForest appeared in the Perun suborbital rocket project. This move was in line with Poland’s full accession to the European Space Agency in 2012, which opened up entirely new opportunities for Polish companies. The €2.4 million in funding from ESA in October 2024 demonstrates that SpaceForest’s technology and capabilities have been recognized not only domestically but also internationally.
The Rocket
The Perun rocket is a three-stage suborbital launch vehicle, which is notable not only for its engineering feat but also for its environmental approach. The SF-1000 engine uses modified paraffin – which can essentially be made from the material of spark plugs – and is oxidized with liquid nitrous oxide (N₂O). This composition is not only much less toxic than traditional hydrazine propellants, but also allows for a synthetically cleaner process. The rocket is fully reusable, which results in further cost savings and sustainability.
Perun can carry a 50-kilogram payload to an altitude of 150 kilometers, making it ideal for microgravity experiments and scientific measurements. SpaceForest has developed the RASEL autonomous tracking and communication system, which allows for modifications up to an hour before launch, as well as last-minute preparation of biological samples or devices on the rocket. This is a flexible approach that has opened the way for commercial and institutional orders.
New Breakthroughs
In the fall of 2025, SpaceForest announced the third test flight of the Perun rocket from the Ustka Central Air Force Training Range, with a planned ballistic trajectory over the Baltic Sea coast. The launch of PERUN Flight 3 took place on Saturday, November 22, 2025, with the planned launch time of approximately 13:00 CET, the exact time was confirmed approximately 40 minutes before launch.
The 11.5-meter-long, 45-centimeter-diameter rocket's hybrid SF-1000 engine was powered by a combination of paraffin fuel and nitrous oxide oxidizer; Flight 3 carried the program's largest research payload to date, including biological experiments, materials science tests, and advanced electronics systems. The mission was designed for suborbital flight, further validating the rocket system's reliability and demonstrating new microgravity services for commercial and institutional partners.
The first phase of the flight proceeded as planned: the climb was stable, and telemetry and onboard systems were functioning properly. However, shortly after launch, a flight safety analysis based on the relationship between the actual flight path and the designated safety zone indicated that there was a risk of exceeding the designated safety zone, so the mission director activated the Flight Termination System (FTS), which controlled the engine shutdown and separated the stages.
The stages fell into the Baltic Sea within the planned safety zone, and with the help of onboard flotation and signaling systems, the main units and a significant part of the payload were successfully recovered. The recovered data packages – acceleration and vibration measurements, temperature profiles, onboard electronics behavior – provided critical input for the planning of subsequent flights, even if achieving a fully suborbital orbit was ultimately not achieved on this flight.
Flight 3 already saw the integration of full-fledged commercial and institutional payloads: biological samples, materials science specimens, and miniaturized electronic modules were flown in the rocket’s cargo bay. One of the mission’s key objectives was to demonstrate to customers that Perun’s platform is suitable for short-term microgravity exposure and subsequent safe sample recovery, which could be key to future regular flights.
The general public could not follow the liftoff directly to the military training area, as the designated launch zone is a closed military area, but the rocket’s ascent was clearly visible from the Ustka port and the surrounding beaches. SpaceForest informed interested parties about the expected launch window, safe observation locations, and provided live coverage of the countdown via its social media channels, especially on its Facebook and X profiles.
Cooperation
PERUN Flight 3 was an important step in building the Polish scientific and commercial space exploration ecosystem. Under the coordination of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), domestic research institutes and companies are increasingly playing a role: the Aviation Institute of the Łukasiewicz Research Network, as well as several universities and startups, participated in the design and evaluation of onboard experiments.
The flights related to the PERUN program are a milestone not only in technological terms, but also in training and organizational terms. The team involved in the preparation and execution of the launch - from the engineers performing trajectory calculations to the launch operators - is gaining experience that can lay the foundation for the creation of an independent Polish launch infrastructure and the commercialization of regular suborbital missions in the long term.
Polish Space Industry
Poland's space travel dates back a long way to the Intercosmos program. On July 9, 1978, Polish pilot Mirosław Hermaszewski launched into space aboard the Soviet Soyuz-30 spacecraft – to the Salyut-6 orbital station. Hermaszewski was a military pilot and spent several days in space conducting scientific experiments. This was the only time in more than four decades that a Polish-born person had been in space – until the 2020s.
Mirosław Hermaszewski became a hero in Poland in the 1980s, almost to the same extent as Gagarin was in the Soviet Union. Hermaszewski died in December 2022, but his adventure paved the way for later generations; his flight is also proof that the East-Central European region was capable of rising to higher technological levels, and the experiments he conducted contributed to universal scientific knowledge.
New Dimensions
The turning point has become apparent in the last ten years. The Perun program is just one of the projects: the Łukasiewicz Research Network of the Warsaw Institute of Aeronautics has developed the ILR-33 “Amber” suborbital rocket, which was launched from the Andøya Space Center in Norway on July 3, 2024 and successfully crossed the Kármán line – reaching an altitude of 101 kilometers. Amber uses a 98% hydrogen peroxide oxidizer, which is another innovative step towards clean, green propellants.
The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) is an organization established in 2014 that coordinates national space programs, including international partnerships with ESA, the European Union and other organizations. The agency supports Polish private companies and research institutions in participating in ESA-funded projects and in seeking international market opportunities.
On June 25, 2025, another historic moment took place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida: Polish research astronaut Sławosz Uznański and his American, Indian and Hungarian colleague Tibor Kapu boarded a SpaceX Falcon–9 rocket that delivered the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom–4 commercial mission. This was the first time that a Polish astronaut had stepped aboard the ISS.
Uznański worked as an electronics engineer at CERN and was included in the ESA astronaut reserve corps in 2022. The Polish technology and science mission IGNIS was implemented by Axiom Space, co-financed by Poland and the European Space Agency; during the mission, 13 Polish scientific experiments were carried out on the ISS and he also participated in several ESA experiments.
The Future
SpaceForest is planning another Perun mission in the first half of 2026, now from the Atlantic Spaceport Consortium base on the island of Santa Maria in Portugal, and another flight in the second half of 2026 from the EuroSpaceport sea launch platform off the coast of Denmark. These plans reflect SpaceForest’s ambitious goals: to enter the market of commercial suborbital flights, where scientific experiments, physical and biological measurements can be performed in microgravity.
The ILR‑33 Amber also has significant potential: the continuously improved versions of the Łukasiewicz Institute indicate that there is more than one competitor in the suborbital rocket market in Poland. This competition is expected to stimulate innovation, reduce costs and strengthen the country's technological position in the European space sector.
Poland is also working on the development of satellite technologies, especially in the field of Earth observation, navigation and defense satellites. The country has also joined the Artemis agreements, which establish participation in a joint lunar exploration and landing program with the United States and other partners - thus, the development of the Perun rocket and the domestic space industry fit into a wider, international network of cooperation.
design: Réka Pisla