14 October 2026
At the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), we are working hard toward a cleaner future for aviation. Recently, new research projects were funded by the European Union; we will be participating in ten of them. Here are six questions on this topic for NLR’s chief technology officer, Martin Nagelsmit.
18 September 2026
Hydrogen as a fuel is considered to be an important route towards future sustainable aviation. For aviation
applications, hydrogen presents several key advantages: it allows for the elimination of carbon emissions in
flight and along the entire life cycle. Its usage in fuel cells allows eliminating NOx and particles. When burnt
in a turbine engine, very low particle emissions can be expected, as well as reduced NOx emissions, provided that the combustion system is optimised. However, water vapour emissions need to be carefully managed.
26 August 2026
Rotterdam The Hague Airport and research institute NLR, together with partners in the European TULIPS programme, carried out a drone flight powered by liquid hydrogen today. This marks the first demonstration in the Netherlands of a liquid hydrogen application at an operational airport.
31 July 2026
NLR received its very first liquid hydrogen Dewar in 2021. It is a state-of-the-art liquid hydrogen storage system designed with safety and efficiency in mind.
23 June 2026
Project: HEROPS (Hydrogen-Electric Zero Emission Propulsion System)
09 June 2026
In the series ‘NLR People’, we show you who the experts at the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) are, what drives them, and what they are working on behind the scenes. In this episode: Naomi Sieben, psychologist in the field of sustainability.
03 June 2026
How do you make an entire aviation system more sustainable, rather than just a single flight or a single aircraft? That is what Royal NLR – Netherlands Aerospace Centre – and TU Delft are investigating in the newly established Dutch Aviation Systems Analysis Lab. Last week, the organisations demonstrated connecting their simulation models for the first time. An important step towards being able to find the answers to tomorrow’s questions.
04 March 2026
As the number of satellites in orbit grows, so does the challenge of keeping space safe and sustainable. What was once a vast and largely empty domain is rapidly becoming congested with hazardous debris. Without coordinated action, the very infrastructure that underpins modern society is at risk. The growing debris problem requires collective efforts — including the Zero Debris Charter — aimed at securing the future of space.
