From action plan to community
The roots of the Netherlands Platform for Planetary science (NPP) can be traced back to 2004 when an action plan for space exploration was developed by SRON and NIVR. Where the Roadmap Planetary Science outlined the strategy, the Netherlands Platform for Planetary Science (NPP) was started to help build a Dutch community. Consequently, these developments led to the allocation of funds for the User Support Programme (‘GO’, still in existence today) and the investments for development of Dutch-led instruments for the ExoMars mission. In the beginnings there were leading roles for our well-known colleagues Rolf de Groot and Tanja Zegers.
The foremost aim of the platform has always been to bring together Netherlands-based planetary scientists and engineers from universities, institutes and industry. As such, the NPP evolved into a national platform for optimising communication and collaboration between these different stakeholders. After deselection of Dutch ExoMars instrumentation the vision and strategy gradually evolved to align it to ongoing science foci and in the 2011-2016 strategy we find the foundations to the present-day NPP. Planetary evolution and habitability became a major focus, while still maintaining a broad enough character to be inclusive of the diversity of planetary science topics studies in the Netherlands. This programmatic context was needed for continuous funding for planetary instrument development, to assure PI/Co-I roles and possibilities were explored to start a national virtual institute, as a possible precursor to an ‘Onderzoeksschool’.
Meanwhile the community has seen major advancements and maturing of the field from 2004 until the present-day. The period 2014-2021 was one of relative quiescence, mainly due to various complementary developments. In 2013 the Planetary and ExoPlanetry Science (PEPSci) programme started, which extended into PEPSci II in 2020. In 2017 the Origins Centre was formed in response to the National Science Agenda (NWA), focusing on the origins of life and planetary evolution. Dedicated half-day pre-meetings at the Netherlands Earth Science Conference (NAC, currently NWO-NAC) attracted many stakeholders, in addition to dedicated planetary science session at NAC (shared with PEPSci and Origins Centre).
Revitalisation
With programs like PEPSci coming to an end and major shifts taking place in science funding priorities, a national actor was again needed to continue facilitating the planetary science network and community in the Netherlands. In 2022 the core team started revitalizing the NPP. During 2024, 20 years after the groundwork for NPP was laid down, the Platform continues its networking and community-building role by coordinating the Expertise Network on Observables of Planetary Habitability, our flagship project that is funded by the Netherlands Space Office and aims to form a national collaborative network to prepare our community for future involvement in planetary missions.