Graveyard orbits for future Mars missions

Mars is expected to become a focal point of exploration (human and robotic) in the coming century, with a very likely need for a robust space infrastructure. Be it communication and navigation satellite constellations or scientific missions in low Mars orbits (LMO) and Areosynchronous orbits (ASO), every individual satellite will have a...

Circular economy of façades: Real-world challenges and opportunities

Reuse and high-value recycling have a pivotal role to play in reducing waste and minimising carbon emissions in the built environment. Design strategies for such recovery methods have yet to be fully established in the façade industry. Meanwhile, stringent regulations, aimed at reducing operational carbon emissions of buildings and improving...

Using natural language processing to explore heterogeneity in moral terminology in palliative care consultations

Background: High quality serious illness communication requires good understanding of patients’ values and beliefs for their treatment at end of life. Natural Language Processing (NLP) offers a reliable and scalable method for measuring and analyzing value- and belief-related features of conversations in the natural clinical setting. We use a...

Design for divestment in a circular economy: Stimulating voluntary return of smartphones through design

For the transition toward a circular economy, it is essential that products are returned for reuse, refurbishing or recycling. In order to address the lack of literature on the topic from a user perspective, this paper explores how users can be stimulated to return used smartphones. Taking a Research through Design approach, we developed a...