Hungary’s Space Future: HUNOR Powers Innovation

An event in Budapest on Monday showcased the positive impact of the HUNOR (Hungarian in Orbit) programme on the local space technology sector.

Orsolya Ferencz, the ministerial commissioner for space research, said the application of space technology had become an integral element for a number of global services and pointed to the significance of the sector for science and security policy, too. She added that space technology was a “cornerstone” of competitiveness and integral to a knowledge-based society.

Ferencz noted that the government had adopted an independent space strategy with a strong focus on business and a programme to bring another Hungarian to space. About half of the experiments on the Axiom-4 mission, with the Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu, are products of the national space programme, she added. After being postponed a number of times, the Axiom-4 mission is set to launch early June 19. Read details HERE – Here’s when Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu can launch into space: sooner than anybody thought before

She said Hungarian universities, research institutes and companies had had great success applying for tenders called for projects of the European Space Agency (ESA). The number of registered Hungarian partners with the ESA stood at 256 at end-2024 up from 23 in 2019, she added.

The Ludovika University of Public Service is leading a consortium of 21 Hungarian universities in the field of space, she said. Ludovika rector Gergely Deli said the results of research conducted at the university’s Institute of Space Law and Policy would be applied in industry.

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