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  • SCK CEN - AstroCardia (2023)
    30 August '23

    Belgians send miniature heart into space for ageing research

    AstroCardia develops artificial 'space heart' to study heart health

     

    Five Belgian companies and research centres are joining forces in the AstroCardia project. With that project, they are making it their mission to improve heart health. And they are doing so in a very special place: in space. This is where they are aiming to better study heart ageing and create a suitable research model for the heart. To do so, they developed an artificial miniature heart and associated circulatory system using 3D bioprinting. This so-called 'heart-on-a-chip' will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025.

  • 20221207_SABCA-SCKCEN_BUDDAWAK_drone-BR3-1
    02 February '23

    Radiation detection drones: the sky is not the limit

    SCK CEN and SABCA prove new, precise measurement technique with test flight

    Demonstrating that drones can map radioactivity over a nuclear site or larger area - that is the mission of Belgian nuclear research centre SCK CEN and aerospace specialist SABCA. Last year, we already presented our first 'radiation detection drone' together. Now we are also showing images of the heavier artillery. Indeed, in December 2022, the 'X-8 multicopter drone' made its first extensive test flight. Equipped with 3 rugged CsI (Cesium Iodide Scintillation) detectors, it mapped radiation levels over our own BR3 site.

  • 2022_Exploring-2040
    13 December '22

    Exploring 2040: more focus for more social impact

    Nuclear research centre presents 'Exploring 2040', a future and investment plan focusing on dismantling and waste, innovative nuclear systems and nuclear medicine.

    Today the brand-new Director-General Peter Baeten presented his future plan for the nuclear research centre SCK CEN: Exploring 2040. In the coming years, it will invest heavily in new infrastructure. "This infrastructure is a necessity to increase our social impact in three areas," it reads. SCK CEN wants to make a difference in global warming, the impending dismantling and the fight against cancer.