During its first scientific flight, the new infrared spectrometer FIFI-LS investigated the birth of young stars in the Orion Nebula and nine other celestial regions. The instrument, carried on board the airborne observatory SOFIA operated by the US space agency NASA and DLR, gathered important data on the formation of stars while simultaneously proving its suitability for this type of mission.
The final exam in Russia has been passed, four and a half years of astronaut training across the globe are complete – and now, less than three weeks remain until the astronaut Alexander Gerst loses the ground under his feet for six months.
From 20 to 25 May 2014, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) will be at the Berlin Air Show (Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung; ILA), presenting numerous concepts for more sustainable, safer and comfortable air travel. In the outdoor area at the air show, DLR will be exhibiting a number of its research aircraft, including the Falcon 20E atmospheric research aircraft. The Space Pavilion, designed by DLR in collaboration with its partners, will be showcasing the TORO walking robot and a number of current European space missions.
With its gently curving channels and teardrop-shaped islands, it is easy to forget that highly destructive events gave rise to the attractive landscape of Osuga Valles on Mars. Multiple gigantic flood events formed this dendritic network of floodwater valleys.
A symbiotic community of bacteria, tomatoes and single-celled algae, synthetic urine and a satellite that simulates the gravity of the Moon or Mars by rotating around its axis – these elements make up the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und- Raumfahrt; DLR) Eu:CROPIS (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic-Food Production in Space) mission.
DLR sends two biomedical experiments from the University of Magdeburg to the ISS. Also on board – NASA cameras for Columbus Eye, the DLR student experiment.
An exchange of knowledge and scientists across borders, joint research projects and workshops – with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on 16 April 2014, DLR and the Japanese National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) are strengthening their cooperation in the crucial research area of optical satellite-Earth communication.
Mapping flood events, observing oil slicks in the oceans, detecting ice distribution in the sea and measuring ground movements with millimetric precision – just some of the tasks of Sentinel-1A, the new flagship in European Earth observation. The roughly 2.3-ton, four-metre-high, two-and-a-half-metre-wide satellite was launched from the European Spaceport in French Guiana at 23:02 CEST (18:02 local time) on 3 April 2014.
In the process of evaluating thousands of datasets from the NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, planetary researchers at DLR have been tracking metallic asteroids.
More than two and a half years – this is how long the Philae lander has been hibernating while travelling through space on board the European Space Agency ESA Rosetta spacecraft. On 28 March, the lander was successfully reactivated and broke its planned radio silence by sending data to Earth from a distance of about 655 million kilometres.
Lucie Poulet said goodbye to the outside world for four months when the door closed behind her on 28 March 2014; the scientist from DLR is participating as a crewmember in a Mars simulation run by the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
A rocket launch in March 2004, multiple swing-bys past Earth and Mars, high-speed fly-bys of asteroids Šteins and Lutetia – after all this, the Philae lander on board ESA's Rosetta spacecraft, which is en route to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is in good shape.
German European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander Gerst is all set for the 'Blue Dot' mission to the International Space Station in May. Crewmates NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and commander-cosmonaut Maxim Surayev will hold a media conference on Tuesday 18 March 2014 and ESA is inviting you to ask questions via Twitter.
These images, 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 Mars Express spacecraft, show the extent to which volcanism has shaped the surface of Mars.
By the time the signal is analysed by scientists at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), it will have travelled roughly 400,000 kilometres and passed through Earth's atmosphere.
Situated at a favourable, stable distance from its star and having liquid water on its surface – this is what the planets that scientists involved in the Planetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars (PLATO) mission seek to discover outside of the Solar System. An international consortium under the leadership of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) will search for this 'second Earth'. The space telescope that the European Space Agency (ESA) selected from among five proposed missions on 19 February 2014 is scheduled to launch in 2024. "This unique European space telescope, designed to search for exoplanets, will enable German and European scientists to engage in truly cutting-edge research in this field of astronomy," says DLR Executive Board Chairman Johann-Dietrich Wörner.
In 100 days, German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will be launched to the International Space Station ISS with NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman and cosmonaut commander Maxim Surayev.
Recent images acquired with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), operated by DLR on board the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft, show a portion of the Claritas Rupes escarpment on Mars that surrounds the Claritas Fossae graben system. It forms the eastern boundary of the gigantic Tharsis volcanic region, where the biggest volcanoes on Mars are located.
A labyrinthine mine, dimly lit and a dusty environment – the researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) chose a particularly difficult location to test their flying robot.
Since the 1990s, Jakobshavn Isbræ has been regarded as the fastest moving glacier in Greenland. According to studies carried out by researchers from the University of Washington and DLR, its speed is now increasing dramatically, with record figures for 2012 and 2013.