SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research is the Dutch expertise institute for space research. The Institute develops and uses innovative technology for research in space, focusing on astrophysical research, Earth science and planetary research. SRON has a line of research into new and more sensitive sensors for

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...

and

infrared radiation Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

. SRON was founded in 1983 under the name ''Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland'' or ''Space Research Organisation, Netherlands''. SRON is a member institution of the

Dutch Research Council The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course o ...

(NWO). The Institute is headquartered in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

with additional facilities in the city of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

Science and technology

The institute has over 250 staff members who are employed in a support department and five divisions: High-Energy Astrophysics (HEA), Low-Energy Astrophysics (LEA), Earth and Planetary Science (EPS), Sensor Research and Technology (SR&T) and Engineering Division (ED).

Technology

SRON's ambition is to act as a leading institute in the development of state-of-the-art satellite instruments for space research missions of

ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and other agencies. Through the years SRON technology has contributed to many ground-breaking space missions, mainly dedicated to mapping the infrared sky (e.g. IRAS, ISO, HIFI/Herschel), analyzing X-ray and gamma-ray sources (e.g. CGRO/COMPTEL, Beppo-SAX, Chandra, XMM-Newton) and studying the Earth atmosphere (SCIAMACHY/ENVISAT). Examples of future missions to which SRON will contribute are SPICA (infrared), ASTRO-H (X-ray) and Sentinel 5 Precursor (Earth atmosphere). The institute is also planning to contribute to missions which will study other planets in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

and beyond.

Missions and projects

Current missions or projects with SRON contribution

SRON instruments are in brackets. *

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

(X-IFU) *

Chandra Chandra ( sa, चन्द्र, Candra, shining' or 'moon), also known as Soma ( sa, सोम), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) and ...

(Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETG)) *

XMM-Newton ''XMM-Newton'', also known as the High Throughput X-ray Spectroscopy Mission and the X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission, is an X-ray space observatory launched by the European Space Agency in December 1999 on an Ariane 5 rocket. It is the second cornerst ...

(Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS)) *

INTEGRAL In mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented i ...

* XRISM (Resolve Soft X-Ray Spectrometer) *

LOFT A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

ALMA Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

(2 band receivers) *

Sentinel-5p Sentinel-5 Precursor (Sentinel-5P) is an Earth observation satellite developed by European Space Agency, ESA as part of the Copernicus Programme to close the gap in continuity of observations between Envisat and Sentinel-5. Overview Sentinel-5 Pr ...

(TROPOMI) * Sentinel 5 (Immersed gratings) *

MetOp Metop (Meteorological Operational satellite) is a series of three polar-orbiting meteorological satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites ...

(GOME-2) * GUSTO *

ARIEL Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', 1989 and 1991 anime video series based on the novel series ...

PLATO Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

* PACE (SPEXone)

Previous missions/projects

BeppoSAX BeppoSAX was an Italian–Dutch satellite for X-ray astronomy which played a crucial role in resolving the origin of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most energetic events known in the universe. It was the first X-ray mission capable of simultaneous ...

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) was a space observatory detecting photons with photon energy, energies from 20 kElectronvolt#Properties, eV to 30 GeV, in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. The observatory featured four main tele ...

(COMPTEL) *

Hitomi Hitomi may refer to:. People * Hitomi (given name), a feminine Japanese given name * Hitomi (voice actress) (born 1967), Japanese voice actress * Hitomi (singer) (born 1976, as Hitomi Furuya), Japanese singer and songwriter * Hitomi Nabatame (b ...

(High-Resolution Soft X-Ray Spectrometer) *

IRAS The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 January 1983, its mission lasted ten mo ...

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

(Short Wave Spectrometer) *

Astronomical Netherlands Satellite The Astronomical Netherlands Satellite (ANS; also known as Astronomische Nederlandse Satelliet) was a space-based X-ray and ultraviolet telescope. It was launched into Earth orbit on 30 August 1974 at 14:07:39 UTC in a Scout rocket from Vandenb ...

GOCE ''Goce'' is an opera composed by Kiril Makedonski (1925–1984), written by Venko Markovski and dedicated to Gotse Delchev. The work was commissioned to be the very first opera performed by the Macedonian National Opera Company. It premiered o ...

ERS-2 European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS) was the European Space Agency's first Earth-observing satellite programme using a polar orbit. It consisted of 2 satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2. ERS-1 ERS-1 launched 17 July 1991 from Guiana Space Centre ...

* Herschel (HIFI) *

Envisat Envisat ("Environmental Satellite") is a large inactive Earth-observing satellite which is still in orbit and now considered space debris. Operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), it was the world's largest civilian Earth observation satell ...

(

SCIAMACHY SCIAMACHY (SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY; Greek: σκιάμάχη: analogously: "Fighting shadows") was one of ten instruments aboard of ESA's ENVIronmental SATellite, ENVISAT. It was a satellite spectrome ...

)

Technology development

In various wavelength areas SRON's sensors are already some of the most sensitive in the world. However, SRON is continuously looking for new ways to deploy even more sensitive sensors for the improved detection of cosmic radiation or measurements of the atmosphere of the Earth and other planets. This requires long-term investments in the development of new sensors, electronics and specialist techniques. In the near future, detectors shall increasingly take the shape of large chips with many megapixels, with a unique combination of two-dimensional pictures and spectroscopy colour resolving power. These detectors require the development of new advanced electronics, smart control software, extreme cooling techniques and novel materials. SRON develops a new generation of detectors, and the necessary read-out and control electronics, for international missions in the submillimeter and far-infrared areas. For example, such extremely sensitive detectors are needed in SPICA/ SAFARI so that we can learn more about protoplanetary discs and the formation of planets. For SPICA/ SAFARI SRON is currently working on Transition Edge Sensors (TES).

National and international partners

SRON cooperates with scientists and with international organizations in bilateral, European or global projects. Within the Netherlands, these include universities in Utrecht, Groningen and Leiden. Outside the Netherlands, an example is the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Directors

Johan Bleeker Johannes Alphonsus Marie "Johan" Bleeker (born 20 July 1942) is a Dutch space research and technology scientist. He was director of the Netherlands Institute for Space Research from 1983 to 2003. He was involved in the setting up of the Horizon 20 ...

(1983–2003) * (2003–2009) * Roel Gathier (2009–2010) (interim) * Rens Waters (2010–2019) * Michael Wise (2019-...)

References

External links

* SRON {{Authority control Science and technology in the Netherlands Space agencies 1983 establishments in the Netherlands