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 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.
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.
On 22 June 2016 at 05:55 CEST, the BIROS (Bi-Spectral Infrared Optical System) microsatellite was successfully launched into space from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India on board a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
The surgeon sits at a console, while robotic arms perform his commands with high precision on the patient – making exact incisions, putting in screws or stitching severed veins in a tiny space. During the operation, the doctor can feel through the controls exactly what the instrument tips on the robot are doing, just as if he were holding them in his own hands.
Out of 550 astronauts that have flown in space, only 60 have been women. The four female European spacefarers in this small group came from Britain, France and Italy. Germany has not yet had a female astronaut. In the late 1980s, German candidate astronauts Heike Walpot and Renate Bruemmer trained to go into space, but neither eventually flew on a space mission.
SOFIA is in New Zealand for the third time – it visited the country in 2013 and 2015 as well. On 6 June 2016, the joint NASA and German Aerospace Center (DLR) flying observatory landed at Christchurch Internationl Airport at 01:37 CEST (11:37 local time). The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will embark on the first scientific flight of this year's campaign in the southern hemisphere on 9 June.
The SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) airborne observatory – a joint venture between the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA – explores the evolution of galaxies using the telescope. Since 2011, the hatch of the modified Boeing 747SP has been opened 250 times to observe the night sky.
The future European launcher Ariane 6 will debut in 2020. In order for it to bring all its payloads safely to their orbits, the engines for the new launcher must first be extensively tested. To test the upper stage of the new launcher, a new test rig will be built at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) site in Lampoldshausen.
At the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the French space agency (CNES) in the presence of Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and also German Aerospace Coordinator, and Thierry Mandon, French Minister of State for Higher Education and Research, renewed their 2002 cooperation agreement on 2 June 2016.
These images, acquired by the High Resolution Stereo Camera operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) on board the European Mars Express spacecraft show a part of the Noachis Terra region in the southern highlands of Mars. The crater shown is approximately four kilometres deep and has a diameter of roughly 50 kilometres.
The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) will exhibit current projects and research results in the fields of aviation, aerospace, and energy at the International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition (ILA Berlin Air Show) from 1 to 4 June 2016.
Space missions are a bit like a marathon with checkpoints – only once the first model of a satellite has been successfully tested will construction commence on the actual flight model. The Eu:CROPIS satellite developed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), which will operate two greenhouses under Martian and lunar conditions, has now reached this milestone – construction of the flight model can now begin.
A workshop in Dutch greenhouses has brought Paul Zabel another step closer to his actual mission: starting December 2017, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) engineer will set off for the Antarctic, where he will spend one year living in a specially constructed container in Neumayer-Station III with the designated task of growing lettuce, cucumbers, herbs and tomatoes.
Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and the European Space Agency (ESA) European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne on 18 May 2016.
A new wireless satellite, innovative laser communication technology for space, a universal adapter for spaceflight – these are just some of the winning entries in the first INNOspace Masters competition run by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Space Administration. Using the slogan ‘Satellite 4.0’, the ideas competition called for the development of new proposals and concepts for the future of space (New Space Economy).
The images presented here, acquired by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) operated by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) on board the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft, show part of the Memnonia Fossae region on Mars.
Two eyes are better than one; this principle is also true for the two radar satellites that make up the Sentinel-1 mission. On 25 April 2016 at 23:02 CEST, the Sentinel-1B Earth observation satellite lifted off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana on board a Soyuz launch vehicle.
The Robotics and Mechatronics Center (RMC) is one of the world's largest and most important research centres for applied automation and robotics. The cluster, which is formed by three DLR institutes, now has the required infrastructure.
On 8 April 2016, at 22:43 CEST, the German SPHEROIDS experiment was launched to the ISS in a Dragon capsule on board a Falcon 9 rocket of the US aerospace company SpaceX.