Hungarian-developed VR Space Cabin Unveiled

The first fully Hungarian-developed simulation space cabin equipped with VR technology was presented in Budapest on Thursday. The SpaceBuzz-HU, that can be used for virtual space travel, will be made available free of charge to Hungarian schools as part of an educational program on the fragility of our planet.

“Our aim is to bring students closer to the Earth and the International Space Station in an experiential way. With the SpaceBuzz educational program, we want to raise children’s awareness of nature and environmental protection, as well as natural sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Orsolya Ferencz, Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided HUF 9 million (EUR 23,000) in funding for the project.

“In recent years, Hungary has done a lot to bring the domestic space sector up to the top of the world rankings.

We have quintupled our financial contributions to the European Space Agency (ESA) programs, and the Hungarian actors concerned are able to bring them back to Hungary almost in full. There are currently 168 registered Hungarian companies, research institutes and universities in ESA,”

Orsolya Ferencz stressed.

She pointed out that the HUNOR Hungarian Astronaut Program will allow a Hungarian research astronaut to go to the International Space Station, the selected reserve of Tibor Kapu will be Gyula Cserényi, who will soon continue their training in the United States. “They both recently tried out the VR space cabin and rated it as outstanding,” she noted.

István Zentai, chairman of the board of trustees of the SpaceBuzz Hungary Public Foundation, said that by the first half of 2025 at the latest, when the selected Hungarian space explorer, Tibor Kapu, will be able to travel into space,

the Hungarian-developed and manufactured rocket, in which twelve participants can experience VR space travel at the same time, could be built.

“The Hungarian space strategy gives a high priority to education, from primary and secondary school to higher education, and from industry to social education. We want to support Hungarian schools in Hungary and beyond the borders with the SpaceBuzz free-of-charge, registration-based education program, launched in 2019 following the Dutch example, and the simulation space cabin. In autumn we will launch a workshop for middle and senior managers of companies on raising awareness of sustainability,” said István Zentai.

The pilot SpaceBuzz program was set up in international cooperation (Dutch, French, Italian, Hungarian) with Erasmus+ support, and since then more than 5500 students from over 100 schools in Hungary and abroad have participated, and more than 200 teachers have received training and teaching materials.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/KKM