TU Delft is home to one of the leading academic programmes in aerospace technology in Europe. The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering draws upon a long history of technical excellence, innovation and teaching performance, preparing graduates to contribute to this dynamic sector with technically imaginative and commercially viable solutions.
In the MSc programme Aerospace Engineering, the master track Space features the profile Planetary Exploration, in which our staff is heavily involved.
- Planetary Exploration (AE4890-11) offers an introduction to planetary science and engineering and is mandatory for all Space Track MSc students.
- Physics of Planetary Interiors (AE4893) offers in-depth insights in the interior processes and modelling of planets.
- Measurement Strategies for Planetary Science Missions (AE4895) targets laboratory and instrument measurements to characterise upstream and downstream applications for planetary missions.
- Planetary Missions (AE4876) caps the profile and focuses on the implementation of plantary science in exploration missions and mission design.
Examples of Thesis projects
Students enrolled at the MSc track Space Flight in the profile Planetary Exploration can find a list on BrightSpace of possible thesis topics. Please consult the suggested topics to help you prepare for choosing a thesis subject. All MSc and PhD theses that we have supervised are available online on the thesis repository where you can search for name of the staff member involved. Due to capacity limits, we currently cannot supervise external MSc students who are not enrolled in the programme MSc Aerospace Engineering.
Study association
Artemis is the study association for the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering’s Master track Space of the Delft University of Technology. The association is fully run by students in their spare time and was founded on the 25th of March 2022 in Delft. It is an active part of our space engineering and planetary exploration community, bringing together staff and students.
Educational collections
Delft Meteorite Lab
The Delft Meteorite Lab is a virtual collection of 3-D models of meteorites, impact rocks and other objects created for online teaching in planetary science courses at the Aerospace Engineering faculty of TU Delft. The collection is the first of its kind in the Netherlands and is based on photorealistic digital 3-D models that were created using photogrammetry. A selection is hosted online via the publicly accessible platform Sketchfab where learners can interact with the models by rotating, panning and zooming (see example below). The collection will continue to grow and future releases will include models of other meteorites and impact rocks, the Dutch meteorites and more examples of ‘meteorwrongs’.
Planetary Analogue Rock Collection (PARC)
Our Planetary Analogue Rock Collection (PARC) is develloped to allow students to work with terrestrial rocks and minerals that are also found on other planetary bodies, as well as with their ‘digital twins’ (interactive 3D models). The idea behind the collection is to make the learning process more compatible with current insights from research into the interior properties and surface materials of the rocky planets in the solar system. Some basic knowledge of geological materials is necessary for designing space missions and their instrumentation, but also for conducting planetary research using those missions and instruments.