08-06-16 |
Jupiter reveals new secrets
Jupiter revealed to astronomers what hides beneath the colourful clouds, dots and stripes we see on the planet. A new radiomap of Jupiters atmosphere – the most detailed so far - reveals the massive movement of ammonia gas beneath the surface. |
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08-06-16 |
Breakthrough in terahertz-spectroscopy
A small device that detects a chemical substance within seconds, using terahertz radiation. Thanks to an improvement of spectroscopy techniques in this frequency, this possibility could soon be applied. Researchers developed a compact system to achieve the spectroscopic fingerprint of a material within 100 μs, making it a promising as a fast, advantageous and portable application, for example in tracing explosives. |
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07-06-16 |
Lisa Pathfinder exceeds expectations
ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission has demonstrated the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory. Results from only two months of science operations show that the two cubes at the heart of the spacecraft are falling freely through space under the influence of gravity alone, unperturbed by other external forces, to a precision more than five times better than originally required. |
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06-06-16 |
Stan Gielen new chair NWO with effect from January 2017
Professor C.C.A.M. (Stan) Gielen will become chair of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) with effect from 1 January 2017. NWO is currently undergoing major changes. The governance and organisation will become more streamlined and coherent. This will put NWO in a better position to optimally realise its core tasks, funding of and innovation in Dutch scientific research and the management of eight national research institutes, both now and in the future. As of 1 September 2016 Stan Gielen will be involved as the future chair of the Executive Board in the further realisation of this organisational change. |
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12-05-16 |
Climate change influences carbon cycle
Satellite measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere shed light on how climate change - taking the shape of for instance heavy rains, draughts and floods - in turn influences the carbon cycle at the Australian continent. The carbon cycle has a big impact on the greenhouse effect. The research results are presented today at the ESA Living Planet Symposium at Prague. |
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29-04-16 |
Loss of Hitomi great blow to international space research
Loss of Hitomi great blow to international space research After a perfect launch on 17 February and a few weeks of excellent operations the Japanese space telescope Hitomi was considered to be lost yesterday. A fault in the orientation of the satellite probably led to considerable damage to the space telescope. This is a great blow to international space research. In the few weeks that Hitomi was operational the space telescope produced spectacular observations. |
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25-04-16 |
31-03-16 |
HIFI project ends
Today the international HIFI project has come to a natural end. Since 1998, starting with a proposal to ESA, SRON and a great number of international partners have been working on the most complex instrument built so far by the institute. Over the years more than 300 people played an active role in the project; in the last month still 20 people worldwide were occupied with HIFI post-operations. |
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29-03-16 |
JAXA loses contact with Hitomi
On 26 March the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that a communications anomaly had occurred with its X-ray astronomical satellite Hitomi, known before launch as Astro-H. The cause of the communications anomaly is yet unknown. |
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15-03-16 |
In memoriam Roel Gathier (1953-2016)
Following a brief illness SRON director dr. Roel Gathier (1953) passed away on 14 March. As SRON's Managing Director, but also as chairman of ESA's Science Programme Committee (SPC), he exerted a strong influence on both national and international space research. His untimely death has left a vacuum, which will be hard to fill. |
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02-03-16 |
NASA films SPEX Airborne test
In February, a team of SRON went to NASA (Palmdale, California) to test the SPEX Airborne instrument on the ER-2 high altitude platform. NASA made a nice footage of this, which can be seen on Youtube. |
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17-02-16 |
Japan launches new space telescope
This morning Japan launched a new X-ray telescope. With the help of Dutch hardware the ASTRO-H-mission will study high-energy phenomena such as matter sucked in by black holes, turbulency in clusters of milky ways, schockwaves caused by supernova explosions and large-scale structures in the universe. ASTRO-H will also investigate dark matter and the acceleration of cosmic particles to high energies. |
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15-02-16 |
Renewed webpage Near Asteroids
The international webpage Near Earth Asteroids, a Chronology of Milestones, 1800 - 2200, has a new location. The renewed page is now on line at the site of ESA's NEO Coordination Centre. |
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15-02-16 |
ASTRO-H launch event on Wednesday
The ASTRO-H launch has been rescheduled by the Japanese space agency JAXA to take place on Wednesday, 17th of February at 9:45 European Time. After the cancellation last Friday, SRON will again organize an event with talks on the importance of the mission and a livestream to witness the launch at SRON. |
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12-02-16 |
Einsteins gravitational waves observed for the first time
Wetenschappers hebben voor het eerst rimpelingen in de ruimtetijd, zogeheten zwaartekrachtsgolven, waargenomen. Deze zwaartekrachtsgolven arriveerden op aarde afkomstig van een extreem heftige gebeurtenis in het heelal. Deze eerste meting van zwaartekrachtsgolven bevestigt een belangrijke voorspelling van Albert Einsteins algemene relativiteitstheorie uit 1915 en opent een nieuw venster op de kosmos. |
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12-02-16 |
Launch ASTRO-H postponed
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration?Agency (JAXA) have decided to postpone the launch of ASTRO-H from the Tanegashima Space Center, which was origin |
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10-02-16 |
Dutch instrument measures aerosols from NASA spy plane
Begin februari maakte het Nederlandse instrument SPEX-airborne zijn eerste twee testvluchten met een voormalig spionagevliegtuig van NASA. Snel daarna, op 5 februari, volgde de eerste echte wetenschappelijke vlucht waarbij kleine deeltjes in de aardatmosfeer in kaart werden gebracht. Inmiddels heeft SPEX-airborne al meer dan vijf vluchturen met goed gevolg doorstaan. |
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27-01-16 |
"A Second Earth" revealed in NEMO
Woensdagmiddag 27 januari 2016 is 'De tweede aarde' officieel in gebruik genomen in Science Center NEMO. SRON sponsort deze opstelling, die deel uitmaakt van de tentoonstelling 'Op zoek naar leven'. |
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26-01-16 |
03-12-15 |
LISA Pathfinder en route to gravitational wave demonstration
ESA's LISA Pathfinder lifted off earlier today on a Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on its way to demonstrate technology for observing gravitational waves from space. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime, predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published on 2 December 1915. |
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