Hungary in space: Government urges European space research strategy

Hungary’s ministerial commissioner for space research called for a common European space research strategy and regulation in an address to a conference of ambassadors to the European Union in Parliament on Saturday.

Orsolya Ferencz told the Coreper that European countries were not “great powers” in the area of space research and pointed to the need for a common strategy and regulation to stay in competition with the United States or China.

Ferencz detailed Hungary’s Space Research Strategy, launched in 2021, and the astronaut selection process for the Hungarian to Orbit programme. She said the European Space Agency had signed several hundred contracts with Hungarian companies since the country had become a full-fledged ESA member in 2015. She added that Hungary had spent over 25 million euros on space research this year alone.

Ferencz also spoke about UniSpace, a higher education programme in space subjects in which 21 Hungarian universities were participating. She said the course would offer instruction in English, too, from the autumn.

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