This animation, partly in true colour and also using false colours to reveal the topography, is based on image data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and a global topographic model of the Moon's surface computed by DLR.
On 1 June 2011, Mars Express carried out a special manoeuvre to observe a conjunction between Phobos and Jupiter.
This animation shows a flight over the region of the Chasmata Melas, Candor and Ophir in the central part of Valles Marineris. ‘Chasma’ (= Greek for "fissure/canyon", plural 'chasmata') refers to deep valleys and canyons on Mars and Venus bound by steep cliff faces. Valles Marineris is a huge rift valley system over 4000 kilometres in length, 200 kilometres wide and up to 11 kilometres deep. Images from 13 HRSC orbits were used for the sequence shown.
The animation shows a simulated flight over Nicholson Crater. The crater is around 100 kilometres in diameter and lies to the northwest of the Medusae Fossae region. In the centre of the crater is an elevated area around 55 kilometres long and 37 kilometres wide that towers around three and a half kilometres above its surroundings. To date, it is not clear what this structure inside the impact crater is and which geological processes have caused its formation.
Here at DLR, we once again look back at an eventful year. There were many highlights in DLR’s research fields of aeronautics, space, transportation, energy and security, and we have compiled some of the most compelling ones in video here.
For this 3D film, researchers at the DLR Institute of Planetary Research used imagery acquired by the German camera system on board NASA's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of about 2700 kilometres above the asteroid's surface. Viewed through red-green glasses, the asteroid’s surface appears in 3D, pock-marked with countless craters. The journey takes visitors to the equatorial region, then the 'Snowman' craters, followed by one of the highest mountains in the Solar System.
Since June 2009, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been orbiting the Moon, using a wide-angle camera to digitally record its cratered surface. Using a total of 70,000 images, researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have now created a digital 3D model of the Moon with unprecedented accuracy and completeness. The video shows virtual flights over the surface of Earth's satellite.
Phobos orbits the Red Planet in 7.6 hours at an altitude of 6000 kilometres. It is the larger of the two Martian moons.
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and Airbus have flight-tested a new ventilation system for aircraft for the first time, with the objective of improving passenger comfort while saving energy and fuel. Achievement of the predicted benefits was confirmed with the help of 63 test dummies and 12 volunteers.
VABENE is a traffic management system used for major events and disasters. It provides the emergency services with a detailed view of the situation and allows operational controllers to act, instead of react. The video is part of DLR’s annual review from September 2011.
Varied impact craters, valleys, canyons and mountains among the highest in the Solar System - the 3D images and videos of the asteroid Vesta created by scientists at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) reveal a most unusual celestial body. The US Dawn spacecraft, carrying a German camera system on board, has been orbiting the asteroid since July 2011.
Be it Spitsbergen, Greenland, the Tropics or the southern tip of the Americas - its deployment in the service of science has already taken the Dassault Falcon 20E research aircraft to an incredibly diverse range of places. The Falcon has been flying for the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) for the last 35 years. In this time it has contributed to answering many questions in atmospheric research, and has established a worldwide reputation. Nevertheless, retirement is still a distant prospect - many more missions are planned.
Visitors to the new DLR Web Portal are not left to discover the new features by themselves. This explanatory video answers the main questions that may arise: what can be found and where; how does it work and why another re-launch?
Considered one of the most beautiful mountains in the world and, at 8000 metres high, the most difficult to climb, K2 lies on the border between Pakistan and China. For scientists at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), it is the perfect place for testing the latest processes for converting satellite data into 3D models.
The images acquired by the German camera system on the US spacecraft Dawn are currently being used for navigation purposes in its journey to the asteroid Vesta. A film, created by the Dawn team researchers from individual images acquired at a distance of about 481,000 kilometres, already reveals how complex the surface of the asteroid is.
An international consortium of scientists, including transport researchers from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), is examining the opportunities and risks of mega-cities and metropolitan areas. The primary research objective, based on the metropolis of Santiago de Chile, is to provide recommendations for strategic urban planning and to minimise problems such as traffic congestion and air pollution. Francisco Martínez, one of Chile’s leading transport researchers, summarises the results and reasons for cooperating with DLR in the following interview. Martínez is a professor at the Universidad de Chile, and his work focusses on transport systems, urban development and modelling raffic behaviour. In a video made by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, one of the other partners on this project, Francisco Martínez and DLR transport researcher Andreas Justen review the situation in this South American metropolis.
By pressing a button, the driver determines the degree of automation. Road accidents often occur due to errors made by inattentive, tired or overworked drivers. The objective of the EU project HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport), in which transport researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) were involved, was to minimise the number of such accidents. The video is part of DLR’s annual review from June 2011.
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint German-US space science project. Carrying a 2.5-metre telescope inside a modified Boeing 747SP, the airborne observatory performs astronomical observations in the infrared and submillimetre wavelengths, high above the disturbance of Earth's atmosphere.
For the first time, researchers from the German Aerospace Center have depicted Mount Everest, the 'Roof of the World', in 3D using optical satellite data at a maximum resolution of just half a metre. These 3D images are the outcome of a collaborative venture between the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, the German company 3D RealityMaps GmbH and DigitalGlobe, one of the world’s leading providers of commercial, high-resolution Earth observation products. A video allows the viewer to follow the route taken by 15 mountaineers on a current expedition to the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
The dynamic component testing facility consists of two modular crash-test sleds, each up to two metres long and 1.3 metres in height. They stand on an 11.5-metre long rail track, so that the 'target' test sled can move backwards on impact. In the first test, DLR engineers accelerated a 1.5-metre long sled with a total mass of 1.3 tons to a maximum speed of 64 kilometres per hour. A compressed air cylinder powers the sled, and a hydraulic brake controls the acceleration.