Our society is becoming more and more complex, with increasing challenges in all fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Artificial intelligence and social media algorithms are taking more and more space, we worry about Earth's climate and natural resources, we worry about our generation and all the ones to come. The solutions need to be adapted to everyone who inhabits this world, meaning that these solutions need to be shaped by people representative of everyone. Today, we still see an underrepresentation of women in most fields of research globally, and we want to work on that.
Royal Belgian Institute for Space AeronomyPhysics and chemistry of the atmosphere of the Earth and other planets, and of outer space.
The Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) co-led a study published in Communications: Earth & Environment that demonstrates for the first time the impact of these anomalous episodes on the transformation of Mars into the arid planet we know today.
BIRA-IASB scientist Mahesh Kumar Sha gave an interview on Traceable Measurements for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring at the BIPM’s (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) Scientific Conference during the 150th Anniversary of the Metre Convention.
3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet originating from another stellar system. New research led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) shows that 3I/ATLAS does not directly expose the material from which it formed. Instead, the pristine ice of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS lies beneath an outer layer of primordial material progressively altered by cosmic rays over billions of years.
EURAMET-BIOSPHERE ran from 2022 until September 2025 and has successfully developed tools, methodologies and measurement infrastructures needed to evaluate the mutual impact of cosmic rays and biologically active ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Such results support EU policy makers with scientific assessments and information that have the potential to substantially improve policies on climate, health and anthropogenic emission activities.
The DUSTER project officially and successfully ended in June, but maybe not for long. This two-year project, led by a consortium of Belgian, French and Spanish labs and institutes managed to develop a breadboard instrument to study the behaviour and electrostatic charging of Lunar dust for future Lunar missions.