Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu completed 25 out of 31 experiments in the Hungarian astronaut (Hunor) program, placing Hungary on the map of space exploration again.
Bianka Horváth, director of the UniSpace program and president of the Association of Business and Scientific Societies (GTTSZ), told Magyar Nemzet that all of the experiments by Hungarian universities received NASA permission and met the strictest professional standards and criteria in order to take part on board the International Space Station (ISS).
“This is the culmination of the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which implemented the program, which is a huge step forward in the successful implementation of the space strategy adopted in 2021,” Horváth said.
Both university and corporate experiments were carried out and are currently being evaluated. “We are proud that six of the 21 universities participating in the UniSpace program contributed to the 11 experiments that were ultimately included in the science portfolio of the AX-4 mission and were approved by NASA,” she told the paper.
BME, ELTE, University of Debrecen, University of Szeged, University of Pécs and Széchenyi István University of Győr were the six Hungarian higher education institutions whose experiments were made possible by the ISS.
BME conducted a series of educational experiments that introduced students to certain laws of physics in comparison between outer space and Earth, with the students working simultaneously with Tibor Kapu.
ELTE tested an environmental psychology study aimed at understanding how the behavior of an astronaut performing a mission adapts to the confinement of the space station and the floating of experimental tools in the microgravity of outer space.
The University of Debrecen contributed to the mission with two experiments: one served to better understand the blood rearrangement that occurs in weightlessness through ultrasound examination of the blood vessel in the human temple, and the other was about germinating various food plants to see if they can withstand the challenges of space.
The University of Szeged had Tibor Kapu conduct three experiments, one of which examined the damaging effect of cosmic radiation on the genetic material of living beings. They looked at how the body responds through the self-repair mechanisms that are triggered. This was a multi-stage series of experiments in which the researchers focused on promising enzymes in insect models that could play a key role in future space travel.
The university also conducted oral, urinary and intestinal flora tests by analyzing Kapu’s microbiome, while the third experiment was a psychometric test that examined how Kapu’s learning ability and association tendency changed due to the effects of mission stress and weightlessness on brain fluids.
The University of Pécs tested geometries using novel 3D printing methods that can only be manufactured in weightlessness, not on terrestrial devices. These methods could provide opportunities for the production of additional equipment for long-term space travel and for the production of special ground-based devices.
The Pécs team also experimented with how weightlessness affects astronauts’ motor skills using virtual reality, as blood is reorganized during this time, impairing brain function. This test is important to plan for the changing work capacity of astronauts. The university’s third experiment was a 3D camera-recorded tour of the astronaut’s daily work activities in each module of the space station.
The radio department of Széchenyi István University established a connection with the ISS, involving the Hungarian astronaut in a Space Day event organized for children in the Carpathian Basin.
“It is important that we can channel the experiments back into education so that children learn about them and not treat them as an unattainable or some sort of dream. This direct connection inspires young people, future engineers,” said Bianka Horváth.
The president of the GTTSZ also mentioned that several Hungarian small and medium-sized companies engaged in space activities participated in the compilation of the experiments. They conducted tests that help advance the understanding of climate change on Earth; develop satellite image processing methods; and contribute to the health protection of astronauts, pharmaceutical development, and the healthcare industry. Successful experiments in these areas have already been conducted in space, and patients today still take many of the drugs that were developed and tested up there.
Horváth emphasized that many other tests remain, which will hopefully be implemented in future space missions.
