Set at an altitude of 615 meters and located close to the village of Bezmiechowa in the southeast of the country, the center took one year to construct and will keep a tight watch on the satellites in orbit.

Professor Grzegorz Wrochna, the president of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), said: “There are 40,000 satellites orbiting above our heads, and millions of various pieces of satellite debris and pieces of rockets.

“Crowding in space is already so big that collisions between satellites are a risk – we need to predict these events, observe and warn about them.”

Among other features, the new center boasts an astronomical telescope in a small building with a retractable roof, as well as a nine-camera dome capable of observing the entire sky.

An optical triangulation system has also been connected to two similar ones located in Greece and the central Polish city of Toruń.

“By observing from these three locations we can determine the position of a satellite in orbit and see if it is in the path of another object,” says POLSA’s Dr. Mariusz Kołodziejczyk.

“We can then warn the owners to either perform a maneuver to avoid the object or prepare for losses.”

The location of the center was selected due to the absence of light pollution.

Costing ten million złotys, the price, says Professor Wrochna, is worth paying: “The cost of launching a single satellite is often hundreds of millions, and in the case of large telecommunications satellites, even billions.

“It’s therefore worthwhile investing in equipment that protects these devices.”