Ongoing projects

List of planetary projects

This non-exhaustive overview of ongoing projects lists per year the project titles, the main applicant (their university) and funding call. The list includes projects that have receiving external funding, irregardless of their size, scope or funding entity.

2026

  • Enhancing planetary missions with PRIDE – from past observations to the JUICE mission – Dr. ir. D. Dirkx (TUD), NSO/NWO GO
  • Beyond 1D: Unveiling 3D structure in Ganymede’s Interior using Juice – Dr. M. Rovira Navarro (TUD), NSO/NWO GO
  • Revealing Venus’ lower atmosphere through novel high-pressure/temperature experiments: a new framework for upcoming Venus missions – Dr. E.S. Steenstra (TUD), NSO/NWO GO

2025

  • Life Marker Chip (LMCOOL) – Dr. N. Ligterink (TUD), NSO Instrumentation programme
  • Habitability of Uranian moons – Dr. M. Rovira Navarro (TUD), NWO Veni talent scheme
  • LeakingOceans: From Buried Ocean to Surface Ice: Spectral Signatures of Leaking Oceans on Icy Moons – Dr. S.M. Cazaux (TUD), ERC Advanced Grant
  • Volcanic degassing of phosphorus on Venus and implications for cloud habitability – Dr. E.S. Steenstra (TUD), NWO ENW-XS
  • The Search for Life on Icy Moons: Sampling Particles from Enceladus’ Ocean – Dr. S.M. Cazaux (TUD), NWA Small Projects
  • Hunting for Asteroids with the James Webb Space Telescope: Enhancing Solar System Science and Planetary Defense. – Prof. dr. I.E.E. Kamp (RUG), NWA Small Projects

2024

  • Experimental insights into the origin of the largest lava river flows on Venus – Dr. E.S. Steenstra (TUD), NWO Open Competition
  • PRELIFE – Pathways, Reactions, and Environments leading to LIFE: An interdisciplinary approach – Prof. dr. ir. I.L. ten Kate et al. (UU), NWA-ORC
  • Elucidating tidal dissipation through open science: a window on the evolution of Titan and the Saturnian system from radio science and astrometry – Dr. ir. D. Dirkx (TUD), NSO/NWO GO
  • Capturing Venus in total flux and polarisation from the UV to the NIR – Prof. dr. A.P. Siebesma (TUD), NSO/NWO GO
  • Mercury from MESSENGER to BepiColombo – Prof. dr. W. van Westrenen (VU), NSO/NWO GO
  • From orbit to outcrop: teaching planetary science using hands-on material analogues – Dr. S.J. de Vet (TUD), NRO Comenius
  • Netherlands Expertise Network on Observables of Planetary Habitability – Prof. dr. W. van Westrenen et al. (VU), NSO

2023

  • Where Jupiter’s volcano moon get its heat? – Dr. ir. W. van der Wal (TUD), NSO/NWO GO
  • Volatile Element Cycles on Venus: Implications for the Evolution of Venus´ Greenhouse-Dominated Atmosphere (VenusVolAtmos) – Dr. E.S. Steenstra (TUD), ERC Starting Grant
  • Defining the role of sublimation-driven mass-wasting on extra-terrestrial bodies – Dr. T. de Haas (UU), NSO/NWO GO
  • Revealing the interiors of the giant planets – Dr. Y. Miguel (LEI), NSO/NWO GO
  • Gravity Reveals Dynamic Support of Martian Volcanoes – Dr. ir. B.C. Root (TUD), NSO/NWO GO
  • Metal incorporation into carbonates to investigate early Earth and Mars conditions – Dr. M. Sánchez-Román (VU), NSO/NWO GO
  • Deltas as a record of ancient hydrological conditions on Mars – Dr. Lisanne Braat (UU), NWO Veni talent scheme
  • Drone-assisted meteorite searching using AI – Dr. S.J. de Vet (TUD), Paneth Meteorite Trust, Royal Astronomical Society

Funding opportunities

Several funding opportunities in the Netherlands are open for planetary science research. These range from personal grants, to funding allocated in an open competition and to dedicated programmes for consortia. A few examples of funding via the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) include:

News articles

The latest news articles about recently awarded research projects that focus on planetary science topics.