About the author

Elke Heinemann

Elke Heinemann has been an editor for the DLR web portal since 2003. After studying German and English as well as theatre, film and television studies in Cologne, she worked in the TV sector and provided reports as well as magazine articles. After she graduated, she undertook an intership in the DLR Communications department.
 
She has been responsible for the developmen of special sites for missions, such as the Rosetta mission, the International Space Station and Mars Express, for the DLR web portal. As self-confessed science fiction fan, she is fascinated by anything related to space. Specially close to her heart is Mars. She has been reporting about the Red Planet for 15 years now and, sometimes, she would even like to go there - but only with a return flight.

Posts from Elke Heinemann

Space | 17. August 2018

ICARUS - Understanding and protecting life on Earth by giving animals an opportunity to communicate with us

If animals could talk, they could tell us a lot about life on our planet. Their migratory movements help us to better understand how to protect human health and wildlife on Earth. Yet scientists are unable to follow small animals and insects on their long journey. Billions of songbirds move every year from continent to continent. Bats and countless insect species may do the same, but we don’t know for sure. This knowledge could provide insights into animal behaviour, the spread of epidemics such as bird flu and Ebola, the impact of climate change, as well as food security in some regions. It would also help predict natural disasters by tapping the highly developed senses of animals, which often react faster to such dangers than humans do. read more

Space | 15. June 2018

Hayabusa2 and MASCOT lander nearing Ryugu

Hayabusa2, JAXA's asteroid explorer, and the MASCOT lander, developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the French space agency (CNES) have been travelling through space since December 2014. They are finally closing in on their destination asteroid – Ryugu. As of 14 June 2018, the distance between Hayabusa2 and Ryugu is less than 770 kilometres and the closing speed is 2.1 metres per second. read more

Space | 01. June 2017

Ariane 5: Mit neuer Rekordlast ins All

+++ Update: Der Start der Ariane 5 letzte Nacht war erfolgreich. Dies was der 79. erfolgreiche Start einer Ariane 5 in Folge. +++ Heute Nacht um voraussichtlich 1:45 Uhr MEZ soll eine Ariane 5 mit zwei Telekommunikationssatelliten an Bord ins Weltall starten. Das Besondere dieses Mal: Das Gewicht liegt bei insgesamt 10,851 Tonnen. Ein neuer Rekord. read more

Space | 18. December 2014

Simpler usage rights: as of today, Mars Express HRSC images licensed under Creative Commons licence

Since its arrival at the red planet in December 2003, imagery of ESA's Mars Express mission enjoys great popularity, with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard the spacecraft, which is operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), playing a major role. read more

Space | 24. July 2014

Closing in on Rosetta's target comet

Surface structures are becoming visible in new images of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. These images, with a resolution of 100 metres per pixel, were acquired with the OSIRIS scientific imaging system on board Rosetta. The comet’s neck region – the section connecting the two heads – seems to be much brighter than the head and body of the nucleus. read more

Space | 16. July 2014

Fotowettbewerb: Rosetta, sind wir schon da?

"Sind wir schon da?" - Diese Frage haben wir vermutlich alle irgendwann schon einmal unterwegs gestellt - oder zumindest gedacht. Diese Frage hat sich sicherlich auch das Team der Rosetta-Mission im Laufe des zehnjährigen Flugs zum Zielkometen gestellt. Und jetzt endlich steht das lang ersehnte "Ja, wir sind endlich da!" kurz bevor. Um die letzte Etappe dieser abenteuerlichen Reise zum Kometen 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko zu begleiten, hat die Europäische Weltraumorganisation ESA den Fotowettbewerb: "Rosetta, sind wir schon da?" zum Thema Reisen und Ankommen gestartet. read more

Other | 18. September 2011

85.000 Besucher am "Tag der Luft- und Raumfahrt" in Köln

Sonne und Regen wechselten sich ab - das störte die Besucherinnen und Besucher des "Tags der Luft- und Raumfahrt" aber keineswegs. 85.000 kamen zum Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Köln, um Spitzenforschung hautnah zu erleben. Ob in den Instituten und Laboren, den Kontrollräumen, den Windkanälen, dem Astronautentrainingszentrum oder auf dem Static Display. read more

Other | 18. September 2011

Raumfahrt-Tweetup ist in vollem Gange

Zum Start des ersten deutschen SpaceTweetups begrüßten Marco Trovatello, Andreas Schepers und Fulvio Drigani die 60 Teilnehmer aus aller Welt. read more