Warsaw is set to become the home of a new European Space Agency centre focused on civil security and resilience, with preparations for early activities planned from 2027. The announcement puts Poland at the centre of a European effort to use space capabilities to respond to security challenges and support people during crises.
The European Space Agency, or ESA, and the Republic of Poland say the centre will help develop European capabilities in civil security and resilience in a more coordinated way. These fields include the tools and systems that can help countries protect people and keep essential services working when events put them under strain. ESA says the Warsaw centre will add to its growing work in these areas while operating alongside its existing sites across Europe.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference in Warsaw on 13 July 2026. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Minister of Finance and Economy Andrzej Domański took part. Aschbacher said the centre would support Europe’s ability to protect its interests, help its citizens and act with confidence in a more challenging environment. He also pointed to Poland’s growing space expertise and commitment.
The Warsaw facility is expected to complement ESA’s other establishments, including the European Space Security and Education Centre in Belgium. Together, the centres are intended to support a coherent European response to emerging security challenges, rather than work in isolation.
The plan follows a Letter of Intent signed by ESA and Poland at the agency’s Council at Ministerial Level in Bremen, Germany, in November 2025. That agreement began joint work on creating the centre. ESA and Poland then formed a task force to define its goals, scope and how it could be put into practice.
Poland’s space sector has expanded since the country joined ESA in 2012. Poland has increased its participation in the agency’s programmes and raised its programme commitments at the 2025 ministerial meeting, known as CM25. It has also committed to ESA’s European Resilience from Space initiative. The initiative aims to improve Europe’s resilience through quicker access to reliable data, secure communications and better decision-making during a crisis.
For Poland, hosting the centre is also recognition of the work of its institutions, companies and scientific community. Domański described the decision as a sign of trust and said it gave Poland strong potential to develop space technologies further. The centre’s work could help turn that growing expertise into capabilities shared across Europe.
ESA and Poland will continue developing the arrangements needed to make the facility operational. They plan to begin a number of pre-operational activities from 2027, as a first step toward the centre’s gradual development and future work. The timeline leaves important details to be settled, but the direction is clear: Warsaw is being prepared as a new part of Europe’s effort to use space technology to strengthen security and resilience.