As part of the international educational project SPACE_READY – Digital Course for University Analog Astronauts Space Trainings, implemented with the support of the Erasmus+ KA220-HED programme, students of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University continue participating in a series of pilot analog space missions.
The first mission, involving students of the Faculty of Physics and Technology, Iryna Kamin and Liubov Babinchuk, initiated the practical stage of the university’s engagement in the analog research program at the Analog Astronaut Training Center (AATC) habitat in Poland, near Kraków. In the second phase of the program, students of the Faculty of Natural Sciences majoring in Biochemistry, Viktoriia Zadarko and Khrystyna Slobodian, joined the analog mission.
Their participation broadens the interdisciplinary dimension of the SPACE_READY project, since alongside materials science and engineering tasks, the program also incorporates biological and biochemical research related to the functioning of living systems in confined environments.
During the mission, a research program involving plant material prepared under sterile in vitro conditions is being conducted. Three plant models (Gynura procumbens, Stevia rebaudiana, and Rosa sp.) were transferred to the habitat as model systems for studying closed life-support environments.
In the long term, such research is connected with issues of regenerative life-support systems, plant cultivation in controlled environments, assessment of stress factors associated with confined spaces, and preparation for long-duration space missions. For biochemistry students, this provides an opportunity to work on real research tasks at the intersection of biotechnology, plant physiology, extreme biology, and space education.
The participation of Viktoriia Zadarko and Khrystyna Slobodian in the SPACE_READY program is part of establishing an interdisciplinary environment at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University aimed at preparing students for work within international scientific and educational teams.
Analog missions create conditions in which students not only acquire new knowledge but also learn to work according to research protocols, follow safety procedures, conduct observations, record results, and collaborate within an English-speaking international environment. This strengthens the university’s position within the European educational and scientific community while opening new opportunities for student mobility, the development of STEM education, interdisciplinary research, and practical training for young researchers.
The SPACE_READY project is a natural continuation of our university’s collaboration within the European initiative UNIVERSEH – European Space University for Earth and Humanity.
