In 1983, it joined forces with the space labs in Leiden and Groningen under the name Stichting Ruimteonderzoek Nederland (SRON; lit. transl.

The institute has over 250 staff members who are employed across four program lines: Astrophysics, Earth observation, Exoplanets, and Technology, and two groups of expertise: Engineering and Instrument science.

In the field of astrophysics, SRON mainly contributes to missions regarding infrared (e.g. IRAS, ISO, Herschel), X-rays (e.g. Beppo-SAX, Chandra, XMM-Newton), exoplanets (e.g. PLATO, ARIEL) and gravitational waves (e.g. LISA).

When an X-ray photon falls in from space, the material heats up a tiny bit and the superconducting state collapses.

In a superconducting state this effort doesn't apply because electrons have formed pairs and therefore flow without any resistance through the material.

When a photon hits from space, it breaks up several electron pairs, hampering the superconducting state and the kinetic inductance increases.