11/03/2026
🔭☀️ Watching the Sun with ESA!
We are proud to announce that the ROSIE radio telescope has officially been launched at our Astronomical Observatory in Białków. This modern instrument was built as part of a program of the European Space Agency (ESA) and is designed for continuous monitoring of the Sun’s radio activity.
ROSIE constantly listens to the Sun. It records radio emissions in two frequency bands (1 GHz and 2.8 GHz), tracking phenomena such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections—events that can disrupt satellites, power grids, and other critical infrastructure across the European Union. The long-term goal of the project is to ensure that Europe becomes independent from external providers of this type of data.
On March 9, official acceptance tests were conducted by an ESA commission, followed by the ceremonial launch of the instrument the next day. The event was attended by, among others, Robert Olkiewicz (Rector of the University of Wrocław), Michał Tomczak (Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy), Robert Falewicz (Director of the Astronomical Institute), Holger Krag (Head of the Space Safety Programme at ESA), and representatives of the Polish Space Agency.
The project was designed and implemented by Paweł Rudawy, a heliophysicist from the Astronomical Institute of the University of Wrocław who has been studying solar physics for several decades. The technological partner in the consortium is ITTI sp. z o.o. from Poznań.
ROSIE is already operating—and watching over our space safety! 🌞📡
Białków SpaceWeather Astronomy ScienceFromWroclaw
