SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NOW), has stated that the Science Park Amsterdam at the Watergraafsmeer is the preferred option for the new location of SRON Utrecht. After meetings with three (combinations of) universities, it became apparent that a new building on the campus in Amsterdam best meets all of the requirements set. Matching SRON’s scientific profile with the university research programmes was an important factor in this decision. In Amsterdam a good connection can be made with the earth atmospheric research of the VU University Amsterdam (VU), the astrophysics research of the University of Amsterdam (UvA), and with the research of other NWO institutes on the Science Park.

At its 219th semiannual meeting last week in Austin, Texas, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) named the recipients of its 2012 prizes for achievements in research, instrument development, education, and writing. The 2012 Joseph Weber Award for instrumentation went to Thijs de Graauw, until 2008 principal investigator for HIFI and now director of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

In october 1961 - 50 years ago - Utrecht astronomer Kees de Jager founded a working group that can now be seen as of one of the pillars of Dutch scientific space research. SRON - which originated partly from this working group - celebrates this with the launch of the website www.sron/50jaar. With five topten lists the site gives a concise overview of prominent Dutch pioneers, the scientific breakthroughs, the most influential experiments, the key technologies and the big unanswered scientific issues.

Dutch Space Industry can start building the satellite instrument TROPOMI. Main contractor Dutch Space and the Netherlands Space Office signed a contract last week. TROPOMI will be launched in 2015 onboard the ESA satelliet Sentinel Precursor 5p (S5p). The instrument will make an important contribution to global climate research and air quality research on Earth. The contract is a continuation of an agreement on the realisation of the instrument, which was signed bij the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2009.