On June 20, 2023, Creotech Instruments, a firm specialising in satellite systems and advanced electronics, penned a strategic cooperation agreement with South Korean defence entity, Hanwha Systems. Hanwha Systems is a segment of Hanwha Group, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in South Korea. This partnership aims to leverage the technological prowess of the two entities to design a cohesive product suite for military and industrial sectors.
Creotech Instruments’ ongoing exploration in advanced electronics and satellite systems has piqued the interest of global high-tech entities such as Hanwha Systems, leading to this collaboration. The partnership focuses on expanding the product portfolio for numerous military and industrial applications, predominantly around small satellites, based on the HyperSat platform developed by Creotech.
Hanwha Systems, a South Korean multinational, is known for providing intelligent technologies that harmoniously blend advanced defence electronics and forward-looking ICT technology. It delivers integrated solutions for intelligence and operations, offering technologies in the field of command, control, communication, IT, and cyber-security. Its scope of activities extends to defense technologies applicable on land, at sea, in the airspace, and even in space, providing electro-optics and infrared sensors for medium and large reconnaissance satellites.
The collaboration with Hanwha Systems marks another military venture for Poland’s Creotech, following its contract with the Polish Armament Agency in May of the same year. This partnership, according to Dr. Grzegorz Brona, the President of the Management Board of Creotech Instruments SA, could be a future-leading direction for Creotech. He emphasised the worldwide reputation of Hanwha Group as a firm achieving considerable technological and commercial success, and its potential impact on the global technology development.
In May, Creotech Instruments signed an agreement with the State Treasury – the Armament Agency for the “Industrial feasibility study of the project of the constellation of optoelectronic microsatellites of the Earth”. This project follows the ECSS (European Collaboration for Space Standardization) methodology and is carried out in a consortium led by Creotech and a member of France-based Airbus Defense And Space. The value of the contract for this project phase stands at approximately PLN 6.5 million ($1.6 million), with Creotech bearing the majority of the responsibility.
Creotech Instruments’ crowning achievement is the development of the EagleEye satellite for earth observation in the visible band, built on its proprietary HyperSat microsatellite platform. This platform facilitates various mission types, from technological and scientific to observation and telecommunications missions, even extending to deep space missions. The EagleEye satellite is slated for a 2024 launch into earth orbit on a SpaceX rocket. Additionally, under the PIAST project, Creotech plans to launch a constellation of three small observation satellites in 2025, also based on the HyperSat platform.
