Space Research Organisation Netherlands (SRON) is the Dutch national institute for

space research Space research is scientific study carried out in outer space, and by studying outer space. From the use of space technology to the observable universe, space research is a wide research field. Earth science, materials science, biology, medicine ...

. It focuses on

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

Earth observation Earth observation (EO) is the gathering of information about the physical, chemical, and biosphere, biological systems of the planet Earth. It can be performed via remote sensing, remote-sensing technologies (Earth observation satellites) or throu ...

, and

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

ary research. SRON also develops new detection techniques for

X-rays An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

infrared radiation Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

, and

visible light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm ...

. As national expertise institute, SRON gives council to the Dutch government and coordinates national contributions to international space missions. The Laboratorium voor Ruimteonderzoek (LRO; ) was founded in 1961 in Utrecht as one of SRON's predecessors. In 1983, it joined forces with the space labs in

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

and

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

under the name Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland (SRON; ) as part of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Later, the Leiden lab merged with the Utrecht location. By 2005, the organization was renamed SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research and in 2025 Space Research Organisation Netherlands. In 2021, the Utrecht lab was relocated back to Leiden. Since then, SRON has been headquartered in

with additional facilities in

Science and technology

The institute has over 250 staff members who are employed across four program lines:

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

Exoplanets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first detec ...

, and

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, and two groups of expertise:

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and Instrument science.

Instrumentation

SRON's develops scientific instruments for space research satellites and conducts scientific research based on the resulting data. It participates in international space missions including those led by the ESA,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

. In the field of astrophysics, SRON mainly contributes to missions regarding

infrared Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

(e.g. IRAS, ISO, Herschel),

(e.g. Beppo-SAX
Chandra
XMM-Newton),

exoplanets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first detec ...

(e.g. PLATO, ARIEL) and

gravitational waves Gravitational waves are oscillations of the gravitational field that travel through space at the speed of light; they are generated by the relative motion of gravitating masses. They were proposed by Oliver Heaviside in 1893 and then later by H ...

(e.g. LISA). SRON also participates in earth observation missions, such as ENVISAT, Sentinel-5p and PACE.

Missions and projects

Current missions or projects with SRON contribution

The instrument contributed by SRON is in parentheses. *

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

(X-IFU) *

Chandra Chandra (), also known as Soma (), 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 Dikpala (guardians of the directions). Etymology and other ...

(Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETG)) * XMM-Newton (Reflection Grating Spectrometers (RGS)) *

INTEGRAL In mathematics, an integral is the continuous analog of a Summation, sum, which is used to calculate area, areas, volume, volumes, and their generalizations. Integration, the process of computing an integral, is one of the two fundamental oper ...

* CO2M * HUBS * POEMM * XRISM (Resolve) *

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 (2 Band Receivers) * Sentinel-5p (TROPOMI) * Sentinel 5 (Immersed Gratings) * MetOp (GOME-2) * GUSTO (8-pixel camera) * ARIEL *

PLATO Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

* PACE
SPEXone
*

LISA Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

(Quadrant Photo Receivers; Mechanism Control Unit)

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 simultaneousl ...

(Wide Field Camera) *

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 tel ...

(COMPTEL) * Hitomi (High-Resolution Soft X-Ray Spectrometer) *

IRAS The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Infrarood Astronomische Satelliet'') (IRAS) was the first space telescope to perform a astronomical survey, survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths. Launched on 25 Janu ...

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

(Short Wave Spectrometer) * Astronomical Netherlands Satellite * GOCE * ERS-2 * Herschel (HIFI) * Envisat ( SCIAMACHY)

Technology development

SRON develops new technologies to detect radiation from space, including

and optical light. For X-ray missions such as

, SRON scientists develop Transition Edge Sensors (TES). These work at the exact temperature at which their material is on the verge of a

superconducting Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases g ...

state. When an X-ray photon falls in from space, the material heats up a tiny bit and the superconducting state collapses. The readout current drops as a result, and the instrument knows that it has detected a photon. The energy of the photon is proportional to how much superconductivity is lost. For infrared and exoplanet missions, Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) are developed at SRON. These also work at superconducting temperatures. Kinetic inductance is the manifestation of inertia in mobile charge carriers. In an alternating current the direction of a current keeps changing, which takes effort, just like it costs some effort to shake a mass back and forth. In a superconducting state this effort doesn't apply because electrons have formed pairs and therefore flow without any resistance through the material. When a photon hits from space, it breaks up several electron pairs, hampering the superconducting state and the kinetic inductance increases. This is measured by the instrument and it knows that it has detected a photon. The energy of the photon is proportional to the amount of electron pairs are broken up. Other infrared missions such as GUSTO make use of Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) technology.

National and international partners

SRON's participates in international missions from the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

and

Directors

* Johan Bleeker (1985–2003) * (2003–2009) * Roel Gathier (2009–2010) (interim) * Rens Waters (2010–2019) * Michael Wise (2019–...)

References

External links

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

Science and technology

Instrumentation

Missions and projects

Current missions or projects with SRON contribution

Previous missions/projects

Technology development

National and international partners

Directors

See also

References

External links