Funding from the 2025 programme “Use of space infrastructure for Earth observation and planetary research (GO)” will be divided among nine research projects focusing on two themes: Earth observation research and research into planets and other objects within our solar system. NSO and NWO (the Dutch Research Council) have granted more than €3.3 million to …
Read more “Three projects funded for studies of JUICE, Ganymede and Venus”
A new High Pressure/Temperature Laboratory for Planetary Materials has been commissioned at TU Delft as part of the Delft Planetary Labs of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. A state-of-the-art Anton Paar FRS 1800 gas-tight rheometer was installed, the fifth facility of its kind world-wide, and is now ready for use by dr. Edgar Steenstra and …
Read more “New laboratory opens to study enigmatic volcanic processes on other planets”
Is life possible – or has it ever been possible – on other planets? The (Origin of) Life Marker Chip (LMCOOL) seeks the answer. This innovative chip is being developed by a Dutch consortium led by Dr Niels Ligterink of TU Delft, with funding from the NSO Instruments Programme. A Dutch-built instrument capable of detecting …
Read more “Small chip, grand mission: searching for signs of extraterrestrial life”
Several icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn harbour subsurface oceans potentially suitable for life. In contrast, our knowledge of Uranian moons is limited, as Voyager 2’s 1986 flyby remains the only visit. To improve our understanding, Dr Marc Rovira Navarro (TU Delft) has received a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) that will …
Read more “Veni grant to explore habitability of Uranian moons”
The oceans of several moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn are considered among the most promising environments for finding extraterrestrial life. Buried beneath kilometres of ice, the moons’ surfaces may carry crucial information about the oceans below. Dr. Stéphanie Cazaux has received an ERC Advanced Grant to study the interaction between the moons’ oceans and their …
Read more “ERC Advanced Grant for unveiling the hidden oceans of Jupiter and Saturn’s moons”
The Netherlands Space Office (NSO) has announced two new calls targeting proposals for extending Expertise Networks and supporting Principal Investigators. 1. Call for expertise networks The first new call for proposals targeting the support of existing Expertise Networks has been opened: ‘Strengthening knowledge cooperation in space research‘. This programme aims to support Expertise Networks whose …
Stéphanie Cazaux and Niels Ligterink have received funding from NWO under the National Science Agenda (NWA) for their research project “The Search for Life on Icy Moons.” This project, part of NWA Route 15: Origins of Life – on Earth and in the Universe, focuses on how to sample material from the plumes escaping Enceladus’ …
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The NWO Domain Board Science has awarded twenty-one grant applications in the Open Competition Domain Science-M programme. M-grants are intended for innovative, high-quality, fundamental research and/or studies involving matters of scientific urgency. One of these projects was awarded to Dr. Edgar Steenstra (TU Delft) to invest in lab facilities study the origin of the largest …
Read more “Experimental insights into the origin of the largest lava river flows on Venus”
The interdisciplinary research consortium PRELIFE has been awarded an NWA grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to investigate the origin of life on Earth and in the universe, one of science’s greatest unsolved puzzles. The consortium will receive €6.7 million to explore this question and comprises scientists from sixteen universities and research institutes across …
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Planetary scientist Sebastiaan de Vet of the Planetary Exploration group at TU Delft has received a Comenius Teaching Fellowship for his proposal to start developing a ‘Planetary Analogue Rock Collection’ (PARC) for use in courses of the Planetary Exploration MSc profile. By allowing students to work with terrestrial rocks and minerals that also occur on …
Read more “Comenius grant to develop planetary rock collection supports educational innovation”
Funding within the second call of the programme ‘Use of space infrastructure for Earth Observation and Planetary Research (GO)’ from 2022 will be divided among nine research projects. The funded research proposals encompass studies on, for example, air quality and climate models or the evolution and origin of Mercury. Various national and international space organisations …