(FHS). DLR's mission comprises the exploration of the Earth and the
Solar System, as well as research aimed at protecting the environment and developing environmentally compatible technologies, and at promoting mobility, communication and security. DLR's research portfolio, which covers the four focus areas
Aeronautics,
Space,
Transportation and
Energy, ranges from
basic research to innovative applications. DLR operates large-scale research centres, both for the benefit of its own projects and as a service for its clients and partners from the worlds of business and science. The objective of DLR's
aeronautics research is to strengthen the competitive advantage of the national and European aeronautical industry and aviation sector, and to meet political and social demands – for instance with regard to climate-friendly aviation. German
space research activities range from experiments under conditions of weightlessness to the exploration of other planets and environmental monitoring from space. In addition to these activities, DLR performs tasks of public authority pertaining to the planning and implementation of the German space programme, in its capacity as the official space agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The DLR's Project Management Agency (German:
Projektträger im DLR) has also been entrusted with tasks of public authority pertaining to the administration of subsidies. In the field of
energy research, DLR is working on highly efficient, low- power generation technologies based on gas turbines and fuel cells, on solar thermal power generation, and on the efficient use of heat, including
cogeneration based on fossil and renewable energy sources. The topics covered by DLR's
transportation research are maintaining mobility, protecting the environment and saving resources, and improving transportation safety. In addition to the already existing projects
Mars Express,
global navigation satellite system Galileo, and
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the Institute of Space Systems (German:
Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme) was founded in Bremen in January 2007. In the future, 80 scientists and engineers will be doing research into topics such as space mission concepts, satellite development and propulsion technology.
Planetary research Mars Express The High Resolution Stereo Camera
HRSC is the most important German contribution to the European Space Agency's
Mars Express mission. It is the first digital stereo camera that also generates multispectral data and that has a very high-resolution lens. The camera records images of the Martian surface which formed the basis for a large number of scientific studies. With the HRSC, which was developed at the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Planetary Research (German:
Institut für Planetenforschung), it is possible to analyse details no larger than 10 to 30 meters in three dimensions.
Rosetta and Philae The
comet orbiter
Rosetta is controlled from the
European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in
Darmstadt, Germany. The DLR has provided the structure, thermal subsystem, flywheel, the Active Descent System (procured by DLR but made in Switzerland), ROLIS, downward-looking camera, SESAME, acoustic sounding and seismic instrument for
Philae, the orbiter's landing unit. It has also managed the project and did the level product assurance. The
University of Münster built MUPUS (it was designed and built in Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences) and the
Braunschweig University of Technology the ROMAP instrument. The
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research made the payload engineering, eject mechanism, landing gear, anchoring harpoon, central computer, COSAC, APXS and other subsystems.
Dawn The framing cameras, provided by the
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and the DLR, are the main imaging instruments of
Dawn, a multi-destination space probe to the
protoplanets
4 Vesta and
1 Ceres launched in 2007. The cameras offer resolutions of 17 m/pixel for Vesta and 66 m/pixel for Ceres. Because the framing cameras are vital for both science and navigation, the payload has two identical and physically separate cameras (FC1 & FC2) for redundancy, each with its own optics, electronics, and structure.
Earth-bound research and aeronautics Remote sensing of the Earth In
remote sensing of the Earth,
satellites provide comprehensive and continually updated information on "System Earth". This remote sensing data is used to investigate the Earth's atmosphere, land and ocean surfaces, and ice sheets. Practical applications of this technology include environmental monitoring and disaster relief. Following the
Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, for instance, up-to-date maps could be compiled very quickly using Earth observation satellites. These maps could then be used for orientation during relief missions. DLR conducts these research activities at the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) (German:
Deutsches Fernerkundungsdatenzentrum), a DLR institute based in Oberpfaffenhofen. Nowadays, satellite data is also important for
climate research: it is used to measure temperatures, levels,
particulate matter levels, rainforest deforestation and the
radiation conditions of the Earth's surface (land, oceans, polar ice).
TerraSAR-X The new German Earth observation satellite
TerraSAR-X was launched in June 2007. The objective of this five-year mission is to provide radar remote sensing data to scientific and commercial users. The satellite's design is based on the technology and expertise developed in the X-SAR and SRTM SAR missions (
Synthetic Aperture Radar). The sensor has a number of different modes of operation, with a maximum resolution of one meter, and is capable of generating elevation profiles. TerraSAR-X is the first satellite that was jointly paid for by government and industry. DLR contributed about 80 percent of the total expenses, with the remainder being covered by
EADS Astrium. The satellite's core component is a radar sensor operating in the X band and capable of recording the Earth's surface using a range of different modes of operation, capturing an area of 10 to 100 kilometers in size with a resolution of 1 to 16 meters.
Astronomical surveys The
Uppsala–DLR Trojan Survey (UDTS) was a search for asteroids near
Jupiter in the 1990s, in collaboration with the Swedish
Uppsala Astronomical Observatory. When it concluded there was another survey, the
Uppsala–DLR Asteroid Survey, this time with a focus on
Near Earth asteroids and both surveys discovered numerous objects.
Reusable launch systems Suborbital Spaceplane Studying a
suborbital spaceplane, DLR conducted
Falke prototype for
Hermes spaceplane program, participates in non-realized
Sanger II project and since 2005 work under the concept making fast intercontinental passenger transport possible. The
SpaceLiner is a reusable vehicle lifting-off vertically and landing like a glider.
RETALT DLR is a partner for
RETALT (RETro Propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies), a program aiming to develop
two-stage-to-orbit and
single-stage to orbit reusable launch systems.
Aircraft design DLR is involved in different European
H2020 projects (AGILE, AGILE4.0) concerning aircraft design with the objective to improve multidisciplinary optimization using distributed analysis frameworks.
Research aircraft DLR operates Europe's largest fleet of research aircraft. The aircraft are used both as research objects and as research tools. DLR's research aircraft provide platforms for all kinds of research missions. Scientists and engineers can use them for practical, application-oriented purposes: Earth observation, atmospheric research or testing new aircraft components. DLR is for instance investigating wing
flutter and possible ways of eliminating it, which would also help to reduce aircraft noise. So-called "flying simulators" can be used to simulate the flight performance of aircraft that have not been built yet. This method was for instance used to test the
Airbus A380 in the early stages of its development. The
VFW 614 ATTAS was used to test several systems. The high-altitude research aircraft HALO (
High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft) will be used for atmospheric research and Earth observation from 2009. With a cruising altitude of more than 15 kilometers and a range of over 8,000 kilometers, HALO will provide for the first time the capability to gather data on a continental scale, at all latitudes, from the tropics to the poles, and at altitudes as high as the lower stratosphere. The Airbus A320-232
D-ATRA (Advanced Technology Research Aircraft), is the largest aircraft to the fleet. It has been in use by the German Aerospace Center since late 2008. DLR and
NASA jointly operate the flying infrared telescope SOFIA (
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). A
Boeing 747SP with a modified fuselage enabling it to carry a reflecting telescope developed in Germany is used as an airborne research platform. The aircraft is operated by the
Dryden Flight Research Center at Site 9 (USAF Plant 42) in Palmdale, California. Observation flights will be flown 3 or 4 nights a week, for up to eight hours at a time and at an altitude of 12 to 14 kilometers. SOFIA has been designed to remain operational for a period of 20 years. It is the successor to the
Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), which was deployed from 1974 to 1995. On 31 January 2020, the DLR put its newest aircraft into service, a Falcon 2000LX ISTAR (In-flight Systems & Technology Airborne Research).
Emissions research 2018 DLR conducts research into and noise emissions caused by air transport. In order to ensure that increasing traffic volumes do not lead to an increase in the noise pollution caused by air transport, DLR is investigating options for noise reduction. The "Low-noise Approach and Departure Procedures" research project (German:
Lärmoptimierte An- und Abflugverfahren), for instance, forms part of the national research project "Quiet Traffic" (German:
Leiser Verkehr). The objective of this project is to find flight procedures that can reduce the amount of noise generated during takeoff and landing. One approach is to analyse noise propagation at ground level during takeoff using a large number of microphones. Researchers are also trying to reduce the noise at source, focusing for instance on airframe and engine noise. They hope to minimise noise generated in the engines using so-called "
antinoise". The German Aerospace Center's research work on emissions caused by air transport focuses for instance on model calculations concerning the effects of converting the global aircraft fleet to
hydrogen propulsion. The growth rates of aviation are above average. This raises the question if emission-free hydrogen propulsion could perhaps limit the effects of growing air traffic volumes on the environment and the climate.
Hydrogen as an energy carrier The
Hydrosol and
Hydrosol-2 is one of the energy research projects in which DLR scientists are engaged. For the first time, scientists have achieved thermal water splitting using solar energy, generating hydrogen and oxygen without emissions. For this achievement, the DLR team and several other research groups received the
Descartes Prize, a research award created by the European Commission. The FP6 Hydrosol II pilot reactor (around 100 kW) for solar
thermochemical hydrogen production at the
Plataforma Solar de Almería in Spain started in November 2005 and is in operation since 2008.
Traffic congestion carrying the DLR logo During the 2006 FIFA World Cup football championship, DLR implemented the Soccer project aimed at preventing traffic congestion. In this transportation research project, traffic data was obtained from the air in Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne and used as input for traffic forecasting. A sensor system combining a conventional and a thermographic camera was used to obtain the data. A zeppelin, an aeroplane and a helicopter served as flying research platforms. An image analysis software package generated aerial photos showing the current traffic parameters as well as traffic forecasts. In this way, traffic control centres could be provided with almost-real-time traffic information, and road users could be diverted whenever necessary.
Solar tower power plant near Seville in Spain In 2007, the first commercially operated
solar tower power plant, the
PS10 solar power tower, was commissioned. It has a capacity of eleven megawatt and it is located near Sevilla, in
Sanlúcar la Mayor (Spain). DLR is prominently involved in developing the technology for this type of power plant. In solar tower power plants, sun-tracking mirrors (heliostats) redirect the solar radiation onto a central heat exchanger (receiver) on top of a tower. This generates high-temperature process heat, which can then be used in gas or steam turbine power plants to generate electrical power for the public electricity grid. In the future, solar thermal tower plant technology could also be used to generate solar fuels, such as hydrogen, without emissions. == Locations ==