"Normung ist die planmäßige, durch die interessierten Kreise gemeinschaftlich durchgeführte Vereinheitlichung von materiellen und immateriellen Gegenständen zum Nutzen der Allgemeinheit."
(DIN 820 Teil 1)
Aerospace is affected by international cooperation and strongly controlled by national and international regulations and standards in order to ensure safety, reliability, and cost-efficiency. Within the German Space Program, global competitiveness of the European industry is referred to with maximum priority among other aspects in the field of industrial policy. The cooperate preparation of standardized procedures by the European Space Industry and Space Agencies supports this objective.
Harmonising these standards and standardisation activities has to be organised in favor of a competitive involvement of the German Industry and research concerning space activities. DLR via its Quality and Product Assurance Department coordinates and manages this process on a national level.
In particular, this takes place by:
Previous standardisation processes need some time for implementation of the determined standards. To speed up standardisation processes, the research and development phase standardisation was implemented within DLR. Thus, processes presently being developed in research and technology are simultaneously checked with regard to their adherence to standardisation and if necessary – monitored by a standardisation process. Consequently, at the termination of development a standard is available that on competitive market access procures an advantage and thus a more convenient start position in the developer’s favor. The standardisation center monitors DLR-research enterprises and projects in the context of research and development phase standardisation. On initiative of "Innovation by Norms and Standards (INS)", DLR closely cooperates with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) and the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN).