In a world dominated by the digital economy, the invisible infrastructure of satellite signals has become the backbone of everything from logistics to financial transactions. But this foundational technology, known as GNSS, is increasingly under attack. The answer to the growing chaos in the ether is to be found in a new mission from Polish company Creotech Instruments, which is launching the HyperSat SAFIR-PNT project in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and German giant OHB System AG.
The phenomena of jamming and spoofing have ceased to be the domain of theoretical academic considerations and have become real operational risks for the transport and defence sectors. The SAFIR-PNT mission aims not only to passively watch these incidents, but above all to precisely geolocalise their sources from orbit. This SIGINT (electromagnetic reconnaissance) approach, which until recently was reserved for the major powers, is now moving down to the level of commercial microsatellites.
For investors and market observers, the ‘dual-use’ model is key. Creotech is not building a tool exclusively for the military; it is building a protection system for critical infrastructure, the paralysis of which could cost modern economies billions of euros a day. The use of the company’s proprietary HyperSat platform as a base for three demonstration microsatellites suggests that the company is targeting a scalable product that could become a standard in Europe’s technological security arsenal.
The strategic importance of the project goes beyond the technology itself. At a time of increasing geopolitical tensions, Europe is desperate for autonomy in the PNT (Positioning, Navigation and Timing) area. Creotech’s collaboration with OHB System on the Phase 0/A feasibility study is a signal that Polish technological thought is being integrated into the narrowest circle of the European “Space” sector supply chain.
If the SAFIR-PNT mission proves successful, Creotech could move from being a component supplier to being the architect of orbital safety systems. In an industry where trust is the hardest currency, the interference detection contract with ESA is not just an engineering contract, but more importantly a mandate to build one of the most crucial early warning systems for the modern economy.
