NVR honours Emeritus Professor Heinz Stoewer

NVR honours Emeritus Professor Heinz Stoewer

The Dutch Space Society (NVR) will present the NVR Space Award on Wednesday evening 7 September to Emeritus Professor Heinz Stoewer. The NVR grants the Space Award to individuals who have made a major or pioneering contribution to Dutch space travel, according to NVR secretary Pieter Batenburg.

Between 1986 and 2001, Stoewer was the first Professor of Space Systems Engineering at Aerospace Engineering – the faculty that nominated him for the NVR award. ‘As a part-time professor at TU Delft from the European Space Agency (ESA), he stood at the foot of the Delfi Cubesats, among others’, Batenburg writes. ‘To this day, Heinz is closely involved with various organisations around the world and continues to contribute to developing the vision in the field of System Engineering’.

Stoewer himself founded the Heinz Stoewer Space Award in 2018 with the money he won with the prestigious IEEE Ramo Medal. The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering presents the Heinz Stoewer Space Award each year to a graduate who stands out for the high quality and social relevance of his or her thesis.

Although Stoewer retired 20 years ago, he is still looking to the future. After the award ceremony, he will speak about the future of commercial space travel and the increasing importance of sustainable space travel. Originally the ceremony was to have taken place two years ago, but Covid forced a postponement.

More information on:

• Stoewer’s biography page on the University of Cambridge website
• Stoewer is honorary member of VSV Leonardo da Vinci since 2007