Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation Announces Call for Suborbital Flight Experiment Concepts
On Wednesday, the Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation (ILOT) announced a call for concepts of experiments to be conducted during a suborbital flight. Applications may be submitted by, among others, space sector companies, research institutions, student research groups, and universities. The call will remain open until 11 August.
According to a statement sent by Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation (ILOT) to PAP, the institute will select experiments as part of the project “Development of launch technologies and demonstration of launch capabilities on Polish suborbital rockets.” The project is being carried out on behalf of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) in consortium with the company SpaceForest.
Suborbital flights offer opportunities to test technologies and conduct research under conditions of short-term microgravity and the extreme physical environments present in the upper layers of the atmosphere. They also make it possible to study atmospheric layers inaccessible to airplanes, stratospheric balloons, or satellites.
“The Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation team has both the competence to place its own space technologies in orbit and the experience in launching suborbital payloads. (…) This is yet another contribution to promoting Polish space technologies,” said Dr. hab. Eng. Cezary Szczepański, Acting Director of ILOT, as quoted in the statement.
The call for experiment concepts to be tested under suborbital flight and extreme environmental conditions will be open until 11 August 2025, at 12:00 noon.
“The project is aimed at a wide audience – companies from the space and technology sectors, research institutions, student research groups, higher education institutions, as well as other organizations conducting R&D within civilian projects and national security,” the statement noted.
Michał Pakosz, Head of the Rocket Technology Department at ILOT, stated that Polish companies will have the opportunity to participate in a new research service on the Polish market, going beyond classic laboratory-based studies.
“Thanks to the suborbital rocket mission, Polish technologies – for example in materials engineering, medicine, defense, as well as biological and chemical experiments – will have the chance to be tested in conditions close to those of space. A good piece of news for applicants is that, when applying, they can also consent to have their experiments qualified for future missions conducted by our institute. The activities we are carrying out aim to build a stable ecosystem for suborbital testing,” Pakosz assessed.
Source: naukawpolsce.pl, PAP
