Hetty Helsmoortel \ Mission 2026

In 2026, Hetty turned 40 years old. According to average life expectancy, she is now statistically somewhere in the middle. Urgently time to take stock. For 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 Oostende. But will science remain that loyal ally in the second half of her life as well? What if she soon receives a diagnosis at age 75 for which there is no treatment yet? Will she not be angry, because too much dawdling might have happened somewhere in 2026? Or rather grateful for the things that did progress in that year? Will that newest laundry-folding robot, for which the basis might have been laid in 2026, become a blessing by then... or simply an extra appliance that we have to descale? Because have we actually truly gotten more time since the invention of the dishwasher and the tumble dryer? And will her childlike enthusiasm for 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 to look for as many dreams as raw materials? In Missie 2026, Hetty's hope, humor, and wonder come together once again. She looks in her own way at the most striking scientific events of 2026. Already for the sixth consecutive year, she wants to send everyone back out into the world after the show with eagerness and a head full of new insights.