Contemporary data of the Rosetta spacecraft, space station experiments EXPOSE and MATROSHKA

The Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC) of DLR in Köln-Porz

The „Virtual Control Room“ is a new feature on the DLR Website, where you will have access to current telemetry data for the Missions EXPOSE (ISS), MATROSHKA (ISS), ROSETTA and Mars Exploration Rover, coming straight from the control rooms of the Microgravity User Support Center (MUSC). This allows you to promptly follow these missions.

In the context of the Rosetta mission, a scientific probe is flying towards the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will accompany and examine the comet in its orbit during its approach of the sun. The highlight of the mission will be the landing of the small piggyback probe Philae onto the comet’s surface. The MUSC houses the Lander Control Center (LCC). The Philae team at LCC is responsible for the control and operation of the lander.

The two Rovers “Spirit” and “Opportunity” of the American Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission are examining two different sites on Mars for definite traces of liquid water in the planets history. The DLR, participating in the scientific team of the MER mission since 2002, has established a data link from Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena (California) to the MUSC, which can be used to transmit MER-mission data in real-time.

As the only control center outside the USA, MUSC is receiving live data from Mars and with this is able to participate even better and faster in the mission planning and data analysis for the two exploration rovers.

The experiment facility MATROSHKA is a life-sized model of a human torso. For the first time, this enables research into the effects of cosmic radiation on organs such as the eyes, lung, stomach, kidneys, intestine and the other organic systems of the human body during so-called Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA). Users of the “Virtual Control Room” can monitor current data of the MATROSHKA experiment aboard ISS, which measures radiation both inside and outside the ISS (alternately).

In the trays of the EXPOSE payload, different organisms and organic-chemical compounds are exposed to the extreme environmental conditions of open space to test their survivability; meanwhile, the intensity and composition of incoming radiation is measured.

The “Virtual Control Room” is now online in an initial version. In the near future, it will be extended with further missions and applications, continuously expanding the “proprietary Control Room at home”.