by Ruth Titz-Weider (DLR), September 2024
The “Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt” (DLR, translated as German Aerospace Center) is Germany’s national research center for aviation and space travel, as well as energy, traffic, digitization, and security. It has a main campus in located in Cologne, 30 research sites all over Germany, and additional offices in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington D. C.[1]
About 10,000 people are employed at DLR, 1282 of those PhD students (as of 2022).
The DLR is involved in a multitude of space missions, both national and international, that are a constant source of attention from the interested public.
The missions have a number of different profiles. There is Earth observation, e.g. TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X, two radar satellites supplying high-resolution images of Earth’s surface. There are also astronaut missions to the International Space Station ISS and projects for planet research. Of particular note is the highly successful ESA mission Mars Express with HRS, a high-resolution stereo camera developed by DLR. Since December 2003, the mission delivers surface images with a resolution of down to 10 meters which are used to depict Mars’ surface three-dimensionally.
Of particular interest for exoplanet research are the ongoing CHEOPS mission, and the PLATO mission planned for launch in 2026. For the PLATO mission, the DLR Institute of Planetary Research heads the scientific consortium, and, together with the Institute of Optical Sensor Systems, supplies essential components of the hard- and software.
Furthermore, DLR participates in the European carrier rocket program Ariane, to ensure independent access to space. Important for exoplanet research: The PLATO space telescope is supposed to be launched into space using the Ariane 6 rocket.
Learn more about the DLR and its manifold research projects on its website.
