The exterior of a rocket is exposed to extremely high temperatures during hypersonic flight. But how exactly does the surface structure change under varying air resistance and with respect to heat flow and acceleration?
Falcon took to the skies for the first time 40 years ago today. It left the French aircraft manufacturer Dassault and headed to DLR Flight Operations in Oberpfaffenhofen.
Today, the analysis and use of satellite images is commonplace. Just 15 years ago, however, only a handful of specialists worked with these valuable data. Since then, a particular niche expertise has rapidly developed – the use of satellite data for disaster management.
Space travel is no easy task – first comes the stressful launch with vibrations, then the long flight through the bitter cold and the vacuum. The Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout (MASCOT) has been travelling on board the Japanese Hayabusa2 spacecraft for the last one-and-a-half years, and is currently at approximately 65 million kilometres from Earth.
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has been actively involved in humanitarian aid for many years. Alongside government partners, the private sector and scientific institutions, DLR is supporting the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) work towards a world with zero hunger.
With a length of 600 kilometres and a depth of up to two kilometres, Mawrth Vallis is one of the biggest valleys on Mars and a possible landing site for the ESA ExoMars and NASA Mars 2020 missions. It is entrenched in the Arabia Terra highland, which is more than four billion years old, and ends in the great Chryse Planitia lowland region.
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), together with the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and Dresden University of Technology, has developed a method that accurately simulates the flow of steam in turbomachines up to 10 times faster than has previously been possible.
The small containers that are currently being disassembled at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) are rather inconspicuous, yet they may contain organisms that have endured the conditions of space for over 530 days.
For the first time, the number of worldwide flights in June exceeded the three million planned take-offs mark – an increase of 3.5 percent compared to the previous year. This is one of the findings in the latest Global Aviation Monitor.
Earth observation satellites fly at distances of up to several hundred kilometres from Earth and can provide detailed information that assists relief workers on the ground.