Stories of Aerospace Engineering

Read the stories of researchers and students at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, and discover the scientific questions they are working on and the solutions they come up with.

Looking over the shoulder of the pilot of a Flying-V

The first scale model test proved last year that the Flying-V is an airworthy, stable and controllable aircraft. In early November, it was time for the next step: the first simulator flight. Test pilot Thibaut Cappuyns had the honour of taking control of the stick of the SIMONA simulator. The pilot's experience of this revolutionary type of aircraft is crucial.

Stronger together: Swarm mini-drones sniff out gas leaks

Developing drones that are smaller and lighter than normal drones but still capable of performing the same tasks – Bart Duisterhof has succeeded in doing just that, and has been named Best Graduate in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. For his Master’s thesis, he developed smart mini-drones that can independently detect gas leaks. “If you’re not afraid of thinking outside the box, you can reach solutions that you might not otherwise have thought of.”

Heading for space to save the Earth

A membrane the size of the European continent. Together with other scientists, TU Delft researcher Jeannette Heiligers is currently exploring the possibilities for positioning a gigantic solar shield in space to combat global warming. A huge intervention which is not without its own issues.

Ir. Koo Siu Ling, the first female Aerospace Engineer in the Netherlands

The first woman to graduate from our faculty, then known as ‘Vliegtuigbouwkunde’ (Aeronautical engineering) was Koo Siu Ling. She was an international student from Indonesia of Chinese descent. When she registered to study ‘Vliegtuigbouwkunde’, it made the newspapers, both in the Netherlands and in Indonesia. She would start her studies in 1956 at the age of 16.

Is hydrogen-powered air travel the future?

Hydrogen is a sustainable alternative to kerosene-powered air travel because there are no CO₂ emissions. But hydrogen is also associated with challenges and risks, such as the danger of explosion. TU Delft scientist Dr. Ivan Langella aims to use mathematical models, high-fidelity computational simulations and experiments to develop a zero-emission hydrogen-powered engine that will enable aircraft to fly safely and efficiently.

Tiny autonomous satellites in hot pursuit

It doesn’t sound very elegant, launching a bunch of satellites into space only to have them plummet back to earth. But, while falling, they will map the density of earth’s atmosphere – our shield against meteoroids and space debris. It also involves a level of autonomy and coordination that are essential for next generation earth observation technology and future deep space missions.

Autonomous robots protect the lives of emergency services in disasters

Search and rescue robots play an important role in rescue missions following disasters. Dr. Jamshidnejad is trying to make these robots even more intelligent so that they can make decisions autonomously in complex situations, thereby relieving rescue workers of life-threatening tasks and making rescue operations more efficient.

Airplanes cross borders, so do their environmental effects

When it comes to the health effects of aviation, reducing total fuel burn may not necessarily be the optimal strategy. And, perhaps even more surprisingly, your flight from Amsterdam to Rome contributes to premature deaths in Asia. Dr. Irene Dedoussi models the global human health impact of air pollution from aviation emissions, helping both airplane designers and policy makers in weighing the various mitigation strategies to make aviation sustainable.

Aerospace students revive Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw (and turn it into an electric personal aerial vehicle for today)

In the midst of the corona pandemic, five aerospace engineering students from Delft University of Technology designed a vertical take-off and landing vehicle based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Aerial Screw and demonstrated its feasibility and physics.

‘Making big problems manageable and solving them: that’s what we do as engineers’

Switching to online education in the middle of the semester wasn’t easy for anyone, but how do you do that for a course in which building and testing are so important? Lecturer Michiel Schuurman took it as an opportunity to innovate the production process.