2. March 2022
German environmental satellite EnMAP has arrived safely in the USA

To space from Bre­men, via Hanover and Flori­da

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Space
EnMAP ready to be packed
En­MAP ready to be packed
Image 1/4, Credit: OHB System AG

EnMAP ready to be packed

The En­MAP en­vi­ron­men­tal mis­sion is man­aged by the Ger­man Space Agen­cy at DLR in Bonn on be­half of the Fed­er­al Min­istry for Eco­nom­ic Af­fairs and Cli­mate Ac­tion (BMWK). OHB Sys­tem AG was com­mis­sioned to de­vel­op and build the satel­lite and its hy­per­spec­tral in­stru­ment. The Ger­man Re­search Cen­tre for Geo­sciences (GFZ) in Pots­dam is the sci­en­tif­ic lead for the study. En­MAP was care­ful­ly pushed in­to the trans­port con­tain­er by a trol­ley in the clean room of OHB Sys­tem AG in Bre­men.
EnMAP on wheels
En­MAP on wheels
Image 2/4, Credit: OHB System AG

EnMAP on wheels

Two en­gi­neers gen­tly push the Ger­man en­vi­ron­men­tal satel­lite En­MAP in­to the trans­port con­tain­er with a trol­ley in a clean room at OHB Sys­tem AG in Bre­men.
EnMAP – packed up and ready to go
En­MAP – packed up and ready to go
Image 3/4, Credit: OHB System AG

EnMAP – packed up and ready to go

The Ger­man en­vi­ron­men­tal satel­lite En­MAP packed safe­ly in its trans­port con­tain­er, ready for a flight across the North At­lantic to Cape Canaver­al. The US com­pa­ny SpaceX will launch it from here on board a Fal­con 9 rock­et.
EnMAP being hoisted
En­MAP be­ing hoist­ed
Image 4/4, Credit: OHB System AG

EnMAP being hoisted

Ready to go: The Ger­man en­vi­ron­men­tal satel­lite En­MAP was set down in its trans­port con­tain­er. En­MAP was trans­port­ed from the OHB site in Bre­men to Hanover air­port by a heavy goods ve­hi­cle. From there, the satel­lite was trans­port­ed by air via Green­land and New­found­land to Flori­da with a stopover in Ice­land.
  • On 27 February 2022, at 13:05 local time (19:05 CET), the German environmental satellite EnMAP arrived in Florida.
  • The mission is led by the German Space Agency at DLR in Bonn on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
  • The satellite and its hyperspectral instrument have been developed and constructed by OHB System AG, while the ground segment is being developed and operated by DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen. The German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ) is the scientific lead for the mission.
  • Focus: Spaceflight, Earth observation, climate change, environmental protection and nature conservation.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) satellite, the first hyperspectral satellite developed and built in Germany, landed safely at NASA's spaceport in Florida on 27 February 2022 at 13:05 local time (19:05 CET). It is now being prepared for flight and integrated onto a Falcon 9 rocket inside the hangar of the US space company SpaceX. EnMAP is expected to set off for its target orbit at the beginning of April 2022. The hyperspectral satellite is expected to collect data on the state of our home planet for at least five years. "We are very happy that EnMAP has now arrived safely in Florida. It was a great feeling to see the aircraft land collect the EnMAP satellite. Now we are taking big steps towards the launch," says Sebastian Fischer, EnMAP Mission Manager at the German Space Agency at DLR , who is on site in Florida.

It all started in the evening hours of 24 February 2022. At 21:00, two heavy transporters left the OHB System AG factory site in Bremen with a special container housing the satellite measuring 8.9 metres long by 2.8 metres high by 3.2 metres wide and another container full of test equipment. The destination of the EnMAP convoy was Hanover-Langenhagen Airport. The transport arrived at 00:00, at which point the container with the EnMAP satellite was loaded onto a transport aircraft. Following take-off at 16:00 on 25 February, it then travelled via Keflavik in southwest Iceland and Portsmouth International Airport at Pease in New Hampshire (USA) to the space shuttle runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. There, the satellite was unloaded from the container on 28 February 2022 and taken to SpaceX's integration hall, where it will be prepared for its journey atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

Trailer: Environmental satellite EnMAP is ready for use in space
As a German environmental mission, EnMAP has its sights set primarily on climate change and its effects on all ecosystems - both on land and water. From an altitude of around 650 kilometres, EnMAP will keep a close eye on our Earth.
Credit: DLR

New EnMAP video explains the mission

The German environmental mission EnMAP will improve our understanding of Earth's ecosystem. Walther Pelzer, DLR Executive Board member and Head of the German Space Agency at DLR, and Sebastian Fischer, EnMAP Mission Manager at the German Space Agency at DLR, together with the mission partners, explain exactly who the mission will support and how in our EnMAP video (German only) on the YouTube channel of the German Space Agency at DLR

EnMAP – the German environmental mission and its partners

The EnMAP environmental mission is managed by the German Space Agency at DLR in Bonn on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). OHB System AG was commissioned to develop and build the satellite and its hyperspectral instrument. The German Research Centre for Geosciences (Deutsche GeoForschungsZentrum; GFZ) in Potsdam is the scientific lead for the study.

Three DLR institutes and facilities have been commissioned to set up and operate the ground segment. The German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen will conduct and monitor satellite operations, while the German Remote Sensing Data Center and the DLR Remote Sensing Technology Institute will archive, process and validate the received satellite data and make them accessible to users in the scientific community. Companies and public authorities will also be able to view the data and use them to prepare future services. The use of EnMAP hyperspectral data by universities and scientific institutions and the development of special applications will be supported by BMWK funding programmes.

Contact
  • Martin Fleischmann
    Ger­man Aerospace Cen­ter (DLR)
    Ger­man Space Agen­cy at DLR
    Com­mu­ni­ca­tions & Me­dia Re­la­tions
    Telephone: +49 228 447-120
    Fax: +49 228 447-386
    Königswinterer Straße 522-524
    53227 Bonn
    Contact
  • Sebastian Fischer
    Mis­sion Man­ag­er En­MAP
    Ger­man Aerospace Cen­ter (DLR)
    Ger­man Space Agen­cy at DLR
    Earth Ob­ser­va­tion
    Königswinterer Straße 522-524
    53227 Bonn
    Contact
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