Case of rocket debris in Poland under scrutiny once again

On 19 February 2025, a piece of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket entered the atmosphere over Poland in an uncontrolled manner, as confirmed by the Polish Space Agency (POLSA). Its debris was found on Polish territory and secured by the police and the prosecutor’s office. According to information obtained from SpaceX, the potential rocket debris does not pose a threat to humans and does not exhibit radioactive properties.

In April, the spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Poznań, Łukasz Wawrzyniak, informed the Polish Press Agency about the decision to discontinue the proceedings in the case.

‘The prosecutor did not find any evidence of a crime. He did not find that anyone had been exposed to the risk of loss of life or serious injury. In his opinion, there was also no crime of destruction of property,’ Mr Wawrzyniak said.

Re-examination of the incident

Almost a year after the incident, the case continues to attract interest. The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced a tender to investigate the incident concerning the uncontrolled re-entry of the rocket stage and its consequences. The task will be carried out without the use of classified information, using available records from ground systems, impact points and orbital trajectory data.

‘The probable aerothermodynamics of the break-up, including ablation, will be assessed and reconstructed,’ the agency said. The results of the study will contribute to the development of knowledge about the predictability of re-entry into the atmosphere and the risks involved. The price range specified in the tender announcement is between EUR 200,000 and EUR 500,000.

The case involving the rocket debris caused confusion in the state administration. In March 2025, Prof. Grzegorz Wrochna was dismissed from his position as president of the Polish Space Agency. ‘The reason for the dismissal of Grzegorz Wrochna, president of the Polish Space Agency, is irregularities in the performance of tasks related to the management of the agency,’ Małgorzata Dzieciniak, spokeswoman for the ministry, told Polish Press Agency.

Criticism of the Ministry of National Defence and the response of the Polish Space Agency

POLSA’s actions in the rocket case were criticised by, among others, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Head of the Ministry of National Defence. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced that the Ministry of National Defence had not received a communication from the Polish Space Agency regarding the possible fall of rocket debris on Polish territory because POLSA had sent the communication to an e-mail address that had been out of date for six months.

POLSA stated that it sends relevant reports to the ministries and services concerned, informing them about the situation in orbit and anticipated deorbiting. However, the agency stated that the messages ‘are for information purposes only, as it is impossible to predict whether the object will burn up completely, and the location of a possible fall cannot be predicted with an accuracy better than a few hundred kilometres’.