Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Space for Science & Society organised the Nebula Explorer Thesislab for the first time this year in collaboration with SRON and the Dutch space sector. The students spent a year doing analysis and design work for the Nebula Xplorer mission. Ultimately, an X-ray observatory with small satellites will be designed, built and driven by students with support from the Dutch space sector.
Almost forty students participated in this Thesislab, in which students wrote their thesis and simultaneously collaborated on a project to design a mini satellite. As usual with the LDE Thesislabs, students from many different fields participated in this lab. A panel of experts working at Airbus Defence and Space and the Netherlands Aerospace Centre, among others, supervised and assessed the students.
Another group of students will now continue with the preliminary design of the instrument and satellite in next year's Thesislab, which students can apply for soon.
