Back to the story of SRON 
Establishment of SRON
1983
With ANS, IRAS and other missions, the Netherlands commands respect in the field of space research. However, the projects are becoming very large. The government would nevertheless like to see a slightly less ambitious space policy that is better suited to a small country such as the Netherlands.
Until 1983, projects by the three groups were funded through the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). In 1983, the three space laboratories merged to form a single organisation, Institute for Space Research Netherlands (SRON), with three sites in Utrecht, Leiden and a then new facility in Groningen.
From then on, funding was provided by what would later become the Dutch Research Council. This meant that the funding structure for Dutch space research now followed the same model as that for radio astronomy (ASTRON) and nuclear physics (FOM).
- Photos (SRON archive): For the first time, Dutch space research also has a logo; in 1990, it also featured on the new building in Utrecht and on a sounding rocket erected there; in Groningen, the space researchers were also given new premises at the Kapteyn Institute.