Speaking on Thursday in the southern city of Gliwice during the nationwide "Ignis – Poland reaches for the stars" tour, Uznański-Wiśniewski told students at the Silesian University of Technology that he hopes Poland will become a technology hub, so that the best graduates "can realize their dreams here, in Poland."
Uznański-Wiśniewski is a project astronaut with the ESA. He said a Polish ESA facility could attract top students from across Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Baltic states, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, which could position Poland as a regional leader.
He argued that the goal is "above all our technological autonomy," meaning the ability to develop and maintain key technologies domestically.
In his view, a local center would be “the first step” toward that goal and would reduce the need to buy solutions from Western Europe or the United States.
Uznański-Wiśniewski said investment in people, especially engineers, is the only way to stimulate such autonomy.
Answering a question about career prospects for space-related graduates, he pointed to the need for steady investment. “Without financing we will not create technological jobs, and without technological jobs we will not create our technological autonomy,” he said.
The idea of an ESA site in Poland was mentioned in July by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
ESA Director Josef Aschbacher has recently said talks were at an early stage, adding that he understood Poland’s ambition to host a center focused on security and defense.
Aschbacher supported the initiative, noting that both sides were working to define what the center might look like.
Thursday’s meeting in Gliwice included a talk by the astronaut, a question-and-answer session, and presentations by student science clubs.
The "Ignis – Poland reaches for the stars" tour runs from October 15 to December 19 and visits technical and medical universities in 16 cities.
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. Photo: Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
Ignis, Latin for "fire," was Poland’s technological and scientific mission on Axiom Space’s private Axiom-4 (Ax-4) flight.
During roughly two weeks on orbit the Polish astronaut conducted 13 experiments, including EEG neurofeedback training to reduce stress and maintain focus in microgravity, a Human Gut Microbiota study on how spaceflight affects digestion and mood, Immune Multiomics to map how immunity changes in weightlessness, and LeopardISS, which tested onboard artificial intelligence to analyse data without an internet link, a step toward more autonomous missions.
Ax-4 launched on June 25 and docked with the International Space Station on June 26. The crew flew aboard SpaceX’s newly named Crew Dragon capsule “Grace,” and returned to Earth on July 15.
The rest of the Ax-4 crew included American commander Peggy Whitson, Indian pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Hungarian specialist Tibor Kapu.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP