The 50th International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva (9–13 April 2025, Palexpo) celebrated five decades of global ingenuity, gathering more than 1 000 patented innovations from over 35 nations under the patronage of the European Space Agency (ESA) as Guest of Honour. Within this prestigious framework, ESA invited six European start-ups to illustrate how space technologies are being repurposed for terrestrial benefit; MIRORES Mining Data Services (Poland) was honoured to be among them.
ESA Showcase and Context
The Salon International des Inventions de Genève is the world’s largest annual event dedicated exclusively to invention. The jubilee edition featured a record 1 043 inventions, examined by a jury of 135 experts and attended by more than 28 000 visitors. ESA occupied a central pavilion, offering live demonstrations and thematic lectures to highlight the societal impact of its technology-transfer portfolio.
MIRORES Presentation
Natalia Zalewska, Marta Ciążela, and Jakub Ciążela from MIRORES MDS presented the company’s proprietary Far-Infrared Ore Spectrometer, MIRORES, which operates uniquely in the 17–45 µm window to detect sulfide and oxide ores that are invisible to traditional near- or mid-IR sensors. Originally conceived for lunar and Martian resource prospecting, the instrument now underpins an integrated UAV-based service for sustainable mineral exploration on Earth. Dr Jakub Ciążela, CEO of MIRORES MDS, delivered an invited ESA talk entitled “Far-Infrared MIRORES Spectrometers: Advancing Mineral Exploration from Space to Earth.” The lecture detailed ongoing field trials, laboratory tests, and the role of MIRORES data in future in-situ resource utilisation scenarios.
Technical and Societal Impact
- Planetary and Lunar Applications – In water-free exospheres the far-IR window enables rapid mapping of ilmenite, troilite, and other ore minerals vital to sustained lunar infrastructure.
- Terrestrial Sustainability – Drone deployment reduces carbon footprints and operator risk while accelerating discovery of strategic metals essential to Europe’s energy transition.
- Educational Outreach – Continuous demonstrations attracted diverse audiences, including local school groups whose interest was captured by reflective sulfide and oxide samples, critical minerals that MIRORES is able to detect.
Enabling ESA Support
MIRORES Mining Data Services has been co-funded through ESA Spark program (project 1-2024/08) and the ESA Technology Broker Network, mechanisms that accelerate commercialisation of space-derived innovations across Europe, and is also incubated at ESA BIC Poland and ESRIC in Luxembourg.
Outlook
Building on the visibility afforded by Geneva 2025 exhibition, MIRORES will expand tests with ESTEC and collaborative trials with industrial partners to discuss the instrument application in the forthcoming lunar polar missions, while concurrently scaling its Earth-observation service for EU-critical raw-materials monitoring.
Acknowledgements
The MIRORES team expresses its profound gratitude to ESA Technology Broker Poland and ESA BIC Poland for the financial support of our trip, as well as the ESA Commercialisation Department, the Exhibition organisers, jury members, and all visitors for their engagement and encouragement during this landmark event.