This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers
Grzegorz Zwoliński wants to protect satellites with AI, sensors and high-power microwaves. The concept is technically plausible, but the system has so far been tested only in a laboratory, leaving the company with a long and expensive path from demonstrator to operational technology
The former SatRev CEO is building a startup focused on protecting satellites. The company is still at an early stage, but its technological vision has already attracted the interest of Lonestar Data Holdings, a US company. The market is warning against excessive optimism. Mr. Zwoliński, however, believes that failure was a valuable lesson.
Grzegorz Zwoliński, founder and longtime CEO of SatRev, is building another business in the space industry. Since the turn of 2025 and 2026, he has been developing Ares Shield. He is hardly a first-time startup founder. He has more than a decade of experience in the market behind him – with its ups and downs, and under the watchful eye of Poland's homegrown industry.
In public, albeit in broad terms, he has already outlined his vision for the new technology business. He said he initially raised PLN 1m (about EUR 235,000) to develop it, followed by a further PLN 1.4m (about EUR 330,000). The funds, he said, came from private investors.
He is now announcing a partnership with Lonestar Data Holdings, a young American space company, and is opening an office in Los Angeles. The office is intended to facilitate cooperation with American partners, institutions and investors in the space-defense sector.
The technological results, however, will take some time. The ARES Shield project is still at an early stage of development.
The first contract
Grzegorz Zwoliński says he has signed a contract worth about PLN 22m (approximately EUR 5.2m) with Lonestar Data Holdings, marking the first contract in Ares Shield's history.
The US company is developing infrastructure for storing and processing data in space, including in orbit and, ultimately, on the Moon. Its goal is to provide secure, resilient infrastructure for storing data beyond Earth. Under the agreement, Ares Shield will protect Lonestar's orbital servers – initially three satellites and, ultimately, the company's entire planned constellation.
The Polish company recently announced that its solution had reached Technology Readiness Level 4 (TRL 4). This means the technology has been tested under laboratory conditions. ARES Shield expects its first systems to become operational in orbit in 2029. Reaching that stage will require, according to Grzegorz Zwoliński's estimates, around PLN 80m (approximately EUR 18.8m) in funding, including venture-capital investment and grants.
According to Grzegorz Zwoliński, the security of orbital infrastructure is no longer merely a theoretical concern. We saw this recently when Russian military satellites maneuvered near the ICEYE-X36 satellite, which is used by Ukraine, Europe and NATO. Companies moving critical data into orbit also need protection.
Data beyond earth
According to a statement from Ares, Lonestar Data Holdings has tested its data centers during four missions, including two lunar missions. In 2027, it plans to launch its first commercial StarVault platform into orbit. Data stored beyond Earth is intended to be protected against disasters, conflicts and failures of ground-based infrastructure. The security of the satellites themselves, however, remains critical.
“Our customers entrust us with mission-critical data, which is why we regard the security of our orbital infrastructure as the foundation of the entire service. Ares Shield's technology allows us to protect satellites without the risk of generating space debris that could threaten our own systems,” says Steve Eisele, CEO of Lonestar Data Holdings, as quoted in the statement.
The microwave shield
Ares Shield's solution is a modular defense platform that combines AI, data from multidomain sensors and high-power microwave (HPM) technology.
According to the company, the system is designed to detect, classify and neutralize threats to satellites in orbit. These include anti-satellite weapons and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) systems. A focused microwave beam is intended to disrupt the electronics of a threat without using kinetic means or generating space debris.
Six meters for now
Ares Shield is currently testing the technology under laboratory conditions.
“TRL-4 describes a laboratory demonstrator. Our tests inside a Faraday cage showed that the system can ‘shoot down’ a drone from a distance of six meters. We use gallium nitride-based technology. This material allows us to generate higher-energy microwaves from a given energy pulse,” says Grzegorz Zwoliński.
The company plans to conduct tests at a greater distance – 100 meters. The funds raised so far should be sufficient to prepare a site for these tests and design the next version of the system.
“Under the agreement, we will deliver a system to Lonestar Data Holdings that will protect its data centers in orbit. I expect our first systems to be integrated with its data centers in 2029,” says the CEO of Ares Shield.
Why Lonestar?
Why did Lonestar decide to partner with a company whose technology is still at the laboratory stage?
“The systems we are working on do not currently exist on the market. Lonestar provides solutions for government agencies, the military and data centers. It wants to be certain that nothing happens in orbit where, for example, an inspection robot approaches a data center and attempts to take it over or gain access to the data stored inside,” argues Grzegorz Zwoliński.
He explains that Ares will begin providing the services, valued at approximately PLN 22m (about EUR 5.2m), only after the system has been integrated with Lonestar's data centers and they have subsequently been launched into orbit. The plan is for this to happen after 2029.
Expert's perspective
Established technology. A new challenge in orbit, but no proven effectiveness yet
Moving this kind of solution into orbit, however, presents a far greater technological challenge. Key considerations include range, power requirements, the system's mass and dimensions, thermal management, and the highly precise direction of energy. What can be achieved using ground-based infrastructure cannot necessarily be transferred directly to a small satellite platform.
That does not mean the concept should be dismissed out of hand. Quite the opposite – it is an interesting and ambitious area of research. At this stage, however, I would treat it as a deep-tech venture requiring further technology demonstrations, rather than as a solution whose effectiveness in protecting satellites has already been operationally proven.
Projects of this kind can and should attract funding, but investors need to understand that this is a venture with high technological risk and a long road from demonstrator to operational system.
Grzegorz Zwoliński's experience – as CEO of SatRavolution for several years and later of SatRev - is both an asset and a point of reference. Under Grzegorz's leadership, SatRev built genuine expertise in developing and operating small satellites. At the same time, however, the company spent years outlining highly ambitious plans for the scale of its operations, satellite constellations and satellite production, relatively little of which was delivered at the planned scale and within the projected timeframe. That is why, in the case of Ares Shield, it will be particularly important to distinguish the long-term vision from what the company can already demonstrate today in the form of a functioning demonstrator, test results and concrete technology parameters. The venture is certainly worth watching closely in the months ahead.
A second start
Ares Shield is Grzegorz Zwoliński's latest attempt to build a business in the space industry. He says the new project is also giving him a fresh sense of energy.
“It carries the winds of change, and that is very positive,” says the CEO.
Based on our conversations, Poland's space industry assesses Grzegorz Zwoliński's activities in light of SatRev's history. The company found itself in a very difficult position after a series of problems related to the failed execution of its space ambitions. One of SatRev's partners and investors was Virgin Orbit, whose rocket was supposed to carry two satellites built by SatRev into orbit in January 2023. One was STORK-6, owned by the Polish company; the other was AMAN, Oman's first satellite, built by SatRev as part of a project for Omani company ETCO. The launch ended in the failure of the LauncherOne rocket, and both satellites were lost. Several months later, Virgin Orbit was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Virgin Orbit was an American space company. Founded in 2017, it was part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group. The company sought to specialize in launching small satellites into orbit using the LauncherOne rocket, which was launched from a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.
After its collapse, SatRev came under financial and operational pressure, and its growth plans were severely hampered. Investor January Ciszewski became involved in SatRev and ultimately took control of the company in 2025. Grzegorz Zwoliński then left the company.
“My departure from SatRev was not part of the default scenario. That is simply how things worked out during the acquisition process. At that point, SatRev was in a difficult situation, after a series of what were, in truth, unfortunate events. Virgin Orbit went bankrupt, even though it had invested money in us. We had two disasters: one during the rocket launch and another during the failed attempt to put the satellite into orbit. January saved SatRev from an immediate collapse. There is no point sugarcoating it - that is simply what happened,” explains Grzegorz Zwoliński.
At the same time, he stresses that SatRev succeeded in building a team of specialists capable of developing satellites to world-class standards. Following a restructuring process, the company remains active in the market.
“I have no intention of running away from that history”
Grzegorz Zwoliński is therefore developing his new venture with the baggage of experience from his previous business. Industry representatives we spoke to – though not all are willing to go on the record – do not fault him simply because his previous business failed. Setbacks are part of the development of technology ventures. Their reservations relate primarily to how projects were communicated. Ambitious visions and plans did not always go hand in hand with full execution. They are therefore watching the new company with interest, but also with caution. We also hear that perhaps this issue should be approached in a more American way: a previous failure does not necessarily spell trouble for the next venture.
Grzegorz Zwoliński acknowledges that he understands the caution among some in the industry. He says ARES Shield should be judged primarily on what it actually builds, tests and demonstrates, rather than solely on its statements.
“I also understand that my history with SatRev affects the way some people view Ares Shield today. I have no intention of running away from that history. SatRev was a highly ambitious venture operating in an exceptionally capital-intensive industry. In hindsight, I can see that at certain points, our communication about the scale of our plans and the pace of development got ahead of our ability to deliver. Some of the commitments were fulfilled, some only partially, while others were not delivered within the expected timeframe or at the expected scale. That is an experience from which I have drawn concrete lessons,” says Grzegorz Zwoliński.
He stresses that SatRev's history cannot be reduced solely to unfulfilled promises.
“Over those years, we built a team, technologies and expertise, and carried out actual satellite missions. For me personally, it was also more than a decade of intensive learning about how to run a technology company in the space sector – through both successes and mistakes,” the executive adds.
From statements to results
Ares Shield is being built on the back of his previous technological and business experience.
“We are trying to draw a much clearer line between our long-term vision and goals and projects that have already been contracted, funded or are currently being executed. I also do not expect the market to take us at our word. Trust in a new company has to be earned from scratch. I am fully aware that, as the founder of Ares Shield, I carry with me both the experience gained at SatRev and responsibility for things that could have been done better. I do not see this as a problem that needs to be glossed over in our communications. I see it as an obligation to make sure that, this time, the results speak primarily for themselves,” says Grzegorz Zwoliński.
Key Takeaways
- Ares Shield is developing technology aimed at addressing the growing need to protect orbital infrastructure. For now, however, the system remains at an early stage of development – it operates as a laboratory demonstrator, and its use in orbit has yet to be tested. By 2029, the company aims to move from its current testing phase to integrating the system with the orbital data centers of US company Lonestar.
- Ares Shield's first contract with Lonestar sets a clear direction for the new company's development. The solution is intended to protect orbital data centers against potential threats, with its deployment dependent on further technological development. Grzegorz Zwoliński estimates that bringing the project to commercialization will require approximately PLN 80m (about EUR 18.8m) in funding.
- Grzegorz Zwoliński's new business is built on more than a decade of experience in the space sector. SatRev's history means the industry is paying attention not only to Ares Shield's technology itself, but also to how the project is executed and communicated at each stage. The company's progress can therefore be assessed as further demonstrations and deployments come on stream.