While Mechanical Engineering students were busy building a sturdy igloo, roofs elsewhere in the country are collapsing under the weight of heavy snow. How do you build safe, snow-resistant structures?
On the first day of lectures in 2026, Delft, like the rest of the country, woke up to a white world. Classes are continuing as usual, but what does the code orange weather warning mean for the rest of TU Delft?
Most people take a nap now and then; on the train, on the plane, and in the future perhaps even in a self-driving car. Gerbera Vledder (IO) recently obtained her PhD on sleeping while seated. A perfect moment to examine Delft’s lecture hall seats together with this seated-sleep expert.
For many people, Venus is nothing more than a bright dot in the sky. But not for geochemist and experimental petrologist Edgar Steenstra. He wants to understand how the channels on Venus that are thousands of kilometers long were formed. And since this month, TU Delft has the equipment needed to investigate this.
News from China: an experimental molten salt reactor is said to have run on thorium for the first time. This type of technology is also being developed in Delft. Last week, an agreement was presented for the construction of Europe’s first pilot plant. Nuclear physicist Martin Rohde: “The thorium reactor is the holy grail.”
The first snow of the year has fallen. Is that early, or late? What do we actually know about snow? The KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) longs for new data on snowflakes. And that is exactly what researcher Nina Maherndl will deliver.
Last weekend, AE alumnus Michiel Kruijff won the audience award at the Wubbo Ockels Innovation Awards with his idea for an aluminium battery. The awards are named after Delft sustainability professor and astronaut Wubbo Ockels, who exactly forty years ago became the first Dutchman to travel into space.
Three Chinese astronauts are stuck in their space station after a possible crash with space debris. What can be done about space debris? Jeannette Heiligers (Astrodynamics & Space Missions) is working on a solution. “Space debris is one of the biggest challenges in aerospace.”
