SRON_Spectrum_2016

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Veni for research into cosmic structures SRON astronomer Hiroki Akamatsu has budget of clusters and the contribution this 2 SRON Spectrum Content received a Veni grant worth 250,000 euros from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to investigate the evolution of cosmic structures. For this, Akamatsu will make use of the new Japanese space telescope ASTRO-H (now called: Hitomi). In addition, he will contribute to the development of a new ‘imaging spectrometer’ for the large successor of ASTRO-H, the space telescope ATHENA (ESA). makes to the formation of cosmic structures. Secondly he will focus on developing a power ful X-ray spectrometer for the space telescope ATHENA. The spectrometer can be used for astronomical missions but is also important for materials sciences, for example. Short news ............................................ 2 Using small blocks to find large waves........................................... 6 Distant planets shed light on earth............................................... 10 OOne of the major questions in modern-day astronomy is how cosmic structures are formed. These largely evolve at the inter - sections of the cosmic web that also harbor large clusters of galaxies. In these clusters the most visible (baryonic) material in the universe is also found in the form of hot plasma (T~10 6 -10 8 K). This hot plasma emits a lot of X-rays and Akamatsu will study these. He will first of all concentrate on the energy Artist’s impression of ASTRO-H, also called Hitomi (Akihiro Ikeshita/JAXA). Tropomi ready for transport to Russia Searching for answers in the hot universe.................................. 12 Aerosols: missing link in climate research .................................. 15 SPEX-airborne ready for NASA test flight ............................................ 17 Wouter blogs... From the South Pole to the edge of the universe .............. 20 The missions to date........................... 28 After a successful integration with the satellite, the Dutch earth observation instrument Tropomi is now ready for transport to Plesetsk in Russia. From the third quarter of 2016 onwards the European earth observation mission will collect very accurate data worldwide about our climate and air quality. 2015 was a busy and exciting year for the Tropomi partners. After a successful assembly at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage the entire earth observation satellite was shipped to Toulouse in July last year where Intespace subjected it to an extensive test program. Both the satellite and instrument passed this with good marks. The satellite has now re - turned to Stevenage where it is being pre - pared for the transport to the launch base in Plesetsk, Russia. There, Tropomi will be launched this autumn onboard a Russian Rockot launcher. Tropomi detects sunlight that is reflected by the atmosphere and compares this with light directly from the
S H O R T N E W S sun. The sunlight is reflected via mirrors, un - rav eled by gratings and eventually recorded with a detector. Thanks to Dutch innovations like the immersed grating of SRON and TNO, the infrared spectrometer is 40 times smaller than its predecessor (which was equipped with a conventional grating) without compromising the precision. The data collected by Tropomi in space are processed by KNMI, SRON, and others and then made suitable for scientific research and other applications. Parallel to the preparations for the hardware, a Dutch team from Airbus Defence and Space and KNMI are working on the operational aspects of the ground segment of the mission at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. 3 SRON Spectrum Millions for medium-sized black holes SRON researcher Peter Jonker has been awarded a prestigious grant worth 2 million euros by the European Research Council for research into the existence of medium-sized black holes. With Whis group, Jonker will tackle one of the big mysteries of high-energy physics: do medium-sized black holes actually exist? Astronomers think that these elusive mediumsized black holes – with a mass of hundreds to hundreds of thousands of solar masses – must have evolved early in the history of the universe from the first generation of superstars or from enormous gas clouds that collapsed into black holes. Accordingly space around galaxies should be full of them, in - clud ing the space around our own Milky Way. There are now strong indications for the existence of medium-sized black holes but there is no direct evidence yet. Jonker therefore wants to use ESA’s new space telescope Gaia and the largest tele - scopes on earth to study objects and phe - nom ena that can only have arisen due to the activity of a medium-sized black hole. This concerns ultracompact receding clusters, red supergiant’s that feed extremely clear X-ray sources, and white dwarfs that are pulled apart by tidal forces. Jonker is searching for Artist’s impression of the Gaia space telescope (ESA/ATG medialab; background: ESO/S. Brunier). stars located in the sphere of influence of a candidate medium-sized black hole. By measuring their movements he can determine the mass of the black hole. Gelderland invests in Smart Space Cluster The Province of Gelderland is investing 195,000 euros in establishing a Smart Space Cluster, which develops innovative products for the space sector. In the cluster – in which SRON is participating – companies are working together with knowledge institutions. The sophisticated space technology must also be usable in health care, nutrition, and the manufac - turing industry. I In the coming period the Smart Space Cluster partners will work on innovative space tech - niques that can subsequently also have spin-off applications on earth. This must result in new projects that generate extra jobs. Besides SRON, the Smart Space Cluster participants are the companies Q-Concepts, PMP, Prange, Veldlaser, Sumipro, Inspiro, and Mecon. NOVA, Radboud University, and the University of Twente are also taking part. The platform will be further expanded in the coming period. The project must result in five business cases that can be further developed and marketed and in a platform where the knowledge can be shared. SRON is acting as the launching cus- The project participants of the Smart Space Cluster with the representative of the Province of Gelderland (QConcepts). tomer in this cluster, in other words parts of SRON hardware projects will be contributed.
Page 1: SPECTRUM NO. 18 MARCH 2016 DISTANT
Page 5 and 6: More collaboration with China In th
Page 7 and 8: or star, space-time is curved. As a
Page 9 and 10: Nevertheless, there are several fac
Page 11 and 12: indicate that a planet is moving in
Page 13 and 14: ters of galaxies, and how do black
Page 15 and 16: Photo: NASA. In our atmosphere minu
Page 17 and 18: THE EXPERTISE TRIANGLE / SPACE INST
Page 19 and 20: low, or a component in the system t
Page 21 and 22: 2 November 2015, Los Angeles: How i
Page 23 and 24: shoe size Pipo de Clown. Air insula
Page 25 and 26: can only take a glimpse inside thro
Page 27 and 28: uilt in a year before I was even bo
Page 29 and 30: Mission SRON contribution Studies m
Page 31 and 32: 31 SRON Spectrum Mission facts > Un

SRON_Spectrum_2016

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?