DLR - DLR Portal

More news

Matthias Maurer officially becomes an astronaut

25 September 2018

On 25 September 2018, Matthias Maurer graduated as an astronaut – an accolade granted following basic cosmonaut training – thereby receiving formal approval for a flight into space.

…

NASA-DLR balloon mission chases silvery-white ice clouds

21 September 2018

A thin layer of silvery-white ice clouds exists on the edge of our atmosphere. Known as noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs), they form at 83 kilometres above the poles of our Earth during summer. A recent NASA long-duration balloon mission carrying an instrument developed by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) on board was able to observe these clouds over the course of almost six days at their place of origin in the mesosphere.

…

Cerberus Fossae: Tausend Kilometer lange, junge tektonische Brüche auf dem Mars

Cerberus Fossae – young tectonic fissures thousands of kilometres long on Mars

20 September 2018

Volcanism often goes hand in hand with tectonic shifts in the rock crust on all terrestrial planets and the Moon. Magma bubbles rise up from the planet's interior, making room as they ascend and pour their molten rock over the planet's surface in the form of lava. The emptied magma chambers create cavities, which can cause the rigid masses of rock of the crust to sag and shift.

…

DLR sites

Hyperspectral Earth observation instrument DESIS sets off for the ISS

29 June 2018

The DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) – an environmental and resource monitoring system from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) – set off for the International Space Station (ISS) at 05:42 EDT (11:42 CEST) on 29 June 2018. The Dragon capsule carrying DESIS launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

…

Heike Rauer appointed Head of the DLR Institute of Planetary Research

1 November 2017

Heike Rauer will be Head of the Institute of Planetary Research of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) from 1 November 2017. She follows in the footsteps of Tilman Spohn, who had held the position since 2004.

…

Latest DLR Blog Updates

Point of no return – when MASCOT separates from Hayabusa2

17 September 2018

<img align="right" alt="" src="https://www.dlr.de/blogs/en/ResourceImage.aspx?raid=413030">The date has been set! On 3 October 2018, after almost four years in space, the Franco-German MASCOT asteroid lander will separate from its Japanese mother craft Hayabusa2 and free-fall onto the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. The separation, driven by a small mechanism, will be a pivotal moment on which much depends. Once triggered, it will create a mechanically coupled chain reaction that will irrevocably initiate the mission. This is the point of no return. The way in which the mechanism functions and the possible risks of separation are briefly outlined here.

...

Nocturnal thrills – a tale of an EVA, live from Moscow

23 August 2018

<img align="right" alt="" src="https://www.dlr.de/blogs/en/ResourceImage.aspx?raid=412172">It is 01:28 on 16 August 2018, and applause has suddenly broken out in the MCC-M, the Russian control centre for the International Space Station (ISS). The room is full of happy faces. The ICARUS antenna, which will be used to track animals from space, has just been successfully installed on the exterior of the Russian Zvezda module on the ISS.

...