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The Sand Motor, a large-scale peninsula comprising 21 million cubic metres of sand created on the coast at Kijkduin-Ter Heijde, has become a leading example worldwide of sustainable coastal protection. How is nature developing here, how are the dunes being replenished, and what is happening to the coastline? To answer these questions we need high-quality measuring equipment to continually monitor the coastline here. Thanks to financial support from Stichting Zabawas, the Sand Motor has now become a field laboratory for teaching and research in hydraulic engineering.

TU Delft has provided two of the three proposals that are competing for the tenth Earth Explorer mission by ESA, which is planned for 2027-2028. The Earth Explorer missions are aimed at Earth observation, one of the important aims of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Ruisdael Observatory – named after the 17th-century painter Jacob van Ruisdael – combines a nationwide dense network of measuring points with high-resolution simulations and the necessary computing power in order to map out changes in local weather, air quality and climate. The official opening of the observatory is on 27 September, with a meeting in the grounds of the KNMI measuring station at Cabauw (Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research, CESAR). In April this new top-class research facility was awarded a certificate from NWO’s National Roadmap for Large-Scale Scientific infrastructure.

Noord-Korea heeft sinds 2006 vijf ondergrondse kernproeven uitgevoerd op hun nucleaire testlocatie Punggye-ri in het noordoosten van het land. De meest recente en krachtigste proef vond plaats op 3 september 2017. Onderzoekers van de TU Delft (Shahar Shani-Kadmiel, Pieter Smets and Läslo Evers) en KNMI hebben zowel de seismische als akoestische signalen van deze meest recente proef onderzocht.

Oded Cats is one of the seven TU Delft researchers awarded with an ERC Starting Grant. The European Research Council has awarded the grants (1,5 million euros for a five-year programme) which are intended to support scientists who are in the early stages of their career and have already produced excellent supervised work.