According to Michał Jaros, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, the mission in which Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski will participate is a strategic project. 'It will open the way for the Polish economy and companies that will be able to develop in connection with this mission', said the deputy minister during a session of the Sejm's permanent subcommittee on the Polish defence industry and the technical modernisation of the Polish Armed Forces.

From the point of view of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, the most important part of the mission are the technological and scientific experiments that Uznański-Wiśniewski will carry out on the ISS. Our astronaut will also conduct shows in space, which will be recorded and then used as part of the educational program. They will concern, among other things, Newton's cradle in weightlessness (a row of several identical steel balls in contact, which can only oscillate in one plane; the device illustrates the principle of conservation of momentum and energy) and the operation of simple electrical systems (e.g. a telegraph key).

Representatives of the Polish Space Agency also updated MPs on the preparations for the implementation of the Polish technological and scientific mission IGNIS to the International Space Station.

Jarosław Sulkowski, who is also the head of the Polish delegation to the European Space Agency, announced that the IGNIS mission would take place at the turn of June this year and last 16 days.

He emphasised that the astronaut would take items 'of special symbolism and significance for Poland' with him into orbit. These include Polish flags, including a patch from Mirosław Hermaszewski's spacesuit, Maria Skłodowska-Curie memorabilia, a map from Nicolaus Copernicus' work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ('On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres'), a lump of salt from Wieliczka, and a piece of Polish amber.

A manuscript of Fryderyk Chopin's mazurka, three poems by Wisława Szymborska, a regional costume of the Łódź region (from the collection of the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw), 3D-printed Polish special characters (ą, ć, ę, ł, etc.), and the mission emblems and poster will also be sent into orbit.

POLSA President Grzegorz Wrochna reminded that there were around 500 companies and research centres related to the space industry in Poland, employing over 12 thousand people. Polish companies participate in 11 of 24 ESA missions.

Wrochna talked about the individual experiments to be conducted on the ISS by Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. The 13 experiments include testing the stability of nanomaterials in space conditions, testing cosmic radiation detectors, and using microorganisms to support other forms of life in space.

Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, who was present at the subcommittee meeting and who, together with three other astronauts, will fly into orbit as part of the Axiom-4 mission, said that the Polish mission was a huge opportunity for technological development and marking our presence in the space market. 'This market is developing at an incredible pace. The estimate is that in the next decade, the value of the space market will double and will be roughly as large as twice the Polish GDP', he added.

As he pointed out, his schedule in orbit would be very tight. 'I am the person who has the most experiments planned for the Ax-4 mission. But I will sleep eight hours a day', the astronaut assured. He emphasised that the mission participants would cooperate with each other to conduct all the national experiments.

According to Uznański-Wiśniewski, each of the astronauts who flies on a long-term mission to the ISS has their own cabin, but no such cabins have been prepared for the Ax-4 participants.

'I am lucky that in our European laboratory on the space station, called Columbus, part of the electronics cabinet has been converted into a temporary cabin, where I will be able to strap myself in with a sleeping bag', he described.

He added that Tibor Kapu (Hungarian astronaut) would sleep strapped 'to some electronics cabinet', and commander Peggy Whitson (American) would rest in an airlock, which astronauts use when going out into space. Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India) would have a Dragon capsule as his bedroom - the one the Ax-4 crew will fly to the ISS in. (PAP)

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PAP - Science in Poland