Hetty Helsmoortel

Hetty turns 40 and takes stock. With humor and wonder, she looks at the most striking scientific discoveries of 2026 and at what they mean for our future. A sharp, personal look at the world of today and tomorrow. As always, surprising and stimulating. Because ever since the day she could read, her existence has been filled with science and curiosity. Collecting stones, drawing robots or trying to build the most stable sandcastles on the beach of Ostend. But does science remain that loyal ally in the second half of her life? What if she gets a diagnosis in a while at 75 for which there is no treatment yet? Will she then not be angry, because there was perhaps too much dawdling somewhere in 2026? Or just grateful for the things that did move forward in that year? Will that newest laundry-building robot, for which the basis was perhaps laid in 2026, become a blessing by then … or just an extra device that we have to descale? Because have we actually really gotten more time since the invention of the dishwasher and the dryer? And does her childlike enthusiasm about the new and ever-further exploration of space – with the moon at the forefront in 2026 – remain standing? Even if that moon might have become a place by then where we have gone looking for just as many dreams as raw materials? In ‘Missie 2026’, Hetty’s hope, humor and wonder come together again. She looks in her own way at the most striking scientific events of 2026. For the sixth time in a row, she wants to send everyone back into the world after the show with desire and a head full of new insights.