SRON | National Institute for Space Research

As a part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) SRON is the national center of expertise for the development and exploitation of satellite instruments in astrophysics and earth system science. It acts as the Dutch national agency for space research and as the national point of contact for ESA programmes.

The main activities of the SRON institute are the development and exploitation of satellite instruments in high energy astrophysics, low energy astrophysics and earth system science.
The selection of these research disciplines is based on choices made on the basis of instrumental expertise built up during the seventies and the eighties, and on the ambition to act as Principal Investigator (PI) in a few preselected science areas.

SRON has evolved into a national centre of expertise - or expert-institute- providing:

"the ensemble of knowledge and skills, both technically and scientifically, required to perform a principal role in the scientific utilization of space."

The research themes - astrophysics and earth system sciences - are anchored in programmatic divisions, which set the course for research strategy. These divisions are linked to a separate division for the development of innovative enabling sensor technologies.