German Aerospace Center
The German Centre for Aerospace (DLR ) is the research center of the Federal Republic of Germany for aerospace and power engineering, transport and safety in the field of applied and basic research. It is headquartered in Cologne and is represented in a further 15 national and four international locations. In its research and development work DLR cooperates with other research institutions and industry.
History
The oldest predecessor of DLR was founded in 1907 by Ludwig Prandtl in Göttingen. From this model research facility Motorluftschiff study society, the Aerodynamic Research Institute was later ( AVA). The DLR was built in 1969 under the name of German Research and Testing Institute for Aerospace ( DFVLR ) through the merger of several institutions. In addition to the Aerodynamic Research Institute were the German Experimental Institute for Aviation ( DVL ) and the German Research Institute for Aviation (DFL ), and in 1972 the Society for Space Research ( GfW ).
1989 DFVLR was renamed German Research Centre for Aerospace (DLR). The merger of the German Space Agency (DARA ) and the DLR on October 1, 1997, the name " German Centre for Aerospace " ( DLR) has been changed.
Corporate Structure
DLR is a registered charity. The Board consists of six full-time members with the Chairman Johann -Dietrich Wörner ( since 2007).
DLR employs approximately 7,700 employees (as of 2013) and has 32 different institutions in Germany, testing and operating equipment at a total of 16 locations. Each site has its specific gravity. At the main site in Cologne (headquarters ) are approximately 1,500 employees. The largest site with approximately 1,700 employees, Oberpfaffenhofen. DLR also has an office in Berlin, in the Science Forum Berlin has its seat. DLR also operates liaison offices in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo and Washington DC
The budget of the DLR for its own research and development work and operational tasks was about 798 million euros in fiscal 2012. Of these, around 53% in the competition were third-party funding. DLR also managed as project developers with a budget of more than 2,500 million euros for aerospace, space and aviation research. Reduced funds went by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation for the dual-use research on a hypersonic aircraft.
The DLR is a full member of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems ( CCSDS ) and a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and the European Cooperation for Space Standardization ( ECSS ).
The areas of the administrative and technical management consist of the seven organizational units: communication, politics and economic relations, strategy and international relations, administration, information and communication technology management, quality and product assurance, auditing, corporate investments.
To promote young talent have been set up in recent years, among other things, ten DLR School Labs in Berlin- Adlershof, Göttingen, Hamburg- Harburg, Lampoldshausen / Stuttgart, Cologne- Porz, Oberpfaffenhofen, Dortmund, Braunschweig, Bremen and Neustrelitz. In the DLR School Labs, students are familiarized with interesting experiments with the practical aspects of the natural and engineering sciences. Other initiatives are, inter alia, from April 2009, the " Helmholtz Research Training Group" at the DLR or the joint project REXUS / BEXUS to promote scientists and engineers with the Swedish National Space Board ( SNSB ). DLR also has started with the German Academic Exchange Service ( DAAD) in January 2009, the joint scholarship program " DLR - DAAD Research Fellowships " for foreign young scientists.
Research and development activities
Areas of research and cooperation partner of DLR
The duties of the DLR is one essentially the exploration of the Earth and solar system, and the development of sustainable and environmentally sound technologies. In this regard, explores the DLR following areas: aeronautics, space, transport, energy and security. The activities range from basic research to applied research.
DLR operates large-scale facilities such as the world's only catapult for the exploration of high-speed trains and works with national and international partners from politics, business, industry and science in addition to its own research activity. For example, maintains the DLR together with the French Air and Space Center ONERA Europe's largest mobile ground vibration test facility. In Germany, the DLR has been commissioned by the German government for the planning and implementation of the German space program and is a promoter for the implementation of funded projects from various ministries of the Federal Republic of Germany (among the BMBF and BMWi ) is responsible. International DLR works closely with NASA and ESA, as well as military facilities, such as the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Air Force.
Business
The aim of aeronautical research at DLR is to strengthen the competitiveness of national and European aviation industry and aviation industry and meet the demands of politics and society, for example the issue of climate-friendly air transport.
The German activities in space research ranging from experiments in weightlessness, on the exploration of other planets and the environmental monitoring from space. In addition, the DLR performs sovereign functions for the planning and implementation of the German space program as a space agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Project Management Agency is also encumbered in wide areas of a State in the care of the funding.
Energy research, DLR is working on highly efficient and carbon -carbon power generation processes based on gas turbines and fuel cells, to solar thermal power generation, wind turbines, as well as the efficient use of heat, including combined heat and power generation based on fossil and renewable energy sources.
Transport research at DLR is concerned with the issues of ensuring mobility, protection of environment and resources, and improve safety in traffic.
In addition to existing projects Mars Express, Galileo (satellite navigation) and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the Institute of Space Systems in Bremen was founded on 26 January 2007. The future should research with about 80 scientists and engineers, among other concepts for space missions and the development of satellites and new drives there.
Selected research and development activities
HRSC on Mars Express
The High Resolution Stereo Camera HRSC is Germany's most important contribution to the Mars Express mission of the European Space Agency ESA. Originally developed at the Institute of Planetary Research of the German Center for Aerospace Mars 96 camera takes images of the Martian surface with a detail size of 10 to 30 m, and allows them to analyze three-dimensional.
Remote Sensing of the Earth
As part of the Earth remote sensing satellites provide continuous coverage information about the overall Earth system. This earth observation data are used to study the atmosphere, land and ocean surfaces and the ice of the earth. Practical applications of remote sensing include environmental monitoring and disaster relief.
This allowed after the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December 2004 with the help of earth observation satellites very fast current maps are created, which offered the support staff orientation during humanitarian action. DLR performs this work in the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD ), a DLR Institute in Oberpfaffenhofen. Satellite data now also supply an important contribution to climate research in the measurement of temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, the concentration of particulate matter, the deforestation of the rainforest and the radiation ratio of the earth's surface ( land, oceans, polar ice ).
During the Football World Cup 2006 DLR undertook the project soccer to avoid congestion. In the transport research project traffic data were collected from the air and creates forecasts in Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne. A sensor system consisting of an optical and a thermal imaging camera was used. When flying platforms Zeppelin, an airplane and a helicopter were used. An evaluation of software produced aerial photographs with current traffic parameters and traffic forecasts. So traffic control centers were informed in near real time and road users are redirected if necessary.
The new German radar satellite TerraSAR -X was launched in June 2007. The aim of the designed five-year mission is to provide both scientific and commercial users with remote sensing data based on radar. The satellite design is based on the technology and the experience gained from the SAR missions ( Synthetic Aperture Radar) X-SAR and SRTM. The sensor operates in different modes with resolutions of up to one meter and has the ability to create digital elevation models. TerraSAR -X is the state and industry shared the first time the cost of a satellite. DLR contributed about 80 percent, the rest contributed EADS Astrium at. Main component of the satellite is operating in the X band radar sensor which can detect the surface with different modes of operation is from 10 to 100 km area size and a 16 m resolution.
Following the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, the research aircraft "Falcon 20E " the German Centre for Aerospace for the measurement flight to the volcanic ash was posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 used. The LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging ) instrument showed ash cloud structures of vertical layers. These layers were on the flight path at very different heights. The second successful use of the DLR aircraft took place on 22 April 2010 on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development ( BMVBS). From 1 to 3 May, also completed as part of the " Vulcano Ash Hunter mission" further measurement Flights to investigate the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano ( Flight Route: Research Airport DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen Airport Keflavik Iceland's capital Reykjavik Eyjafjallajökull and back). On May 9, was another test flight: its aim was to measure the concentration of the volcanic ash cloud that had led on Sunday afternoon to block the airports in southern Germany. Thanks to the measurements of the airspace could be released earlier than planned. After the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on 22 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information DLR provided an update maps based on Earth observation satellite TerraSAR -X. During several flights over the Gulf of Mexico from the TerraSAR -X satellite could absorb radar images that show the vast oil slick on the sea surface. The maps of the ZKI provide both the extent of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, and its temporal change based on the TerraSAR -X data dar.
After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, the " International Charter Space and Major Disasters " bat in the morning of March 11, 2011, all participating institutions to provide satellite imagery over the affected area are available. Involved was also the German Aerospace Center (DLR ) and the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information ( ZKI) at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen. It photographs of the German satellite TerraSAR -X and RapidEye were used.
Suborbital passenger flights
Since 2005, the DLR is studying the possibility to make intercontinental passenger transport by suborbital space flights. The reusable spacecraft Spaceliner is off and land vertically horizontally. It has two rocket stages and is driven by liquid fuel.
Research aircraft
DLR operates the largest fleet of research aircraft in Europe. This means research with the aircraft and research on the aircraft. The DLR research aircraft form platforms for research missions of all kinds scientists and engineers can practice and practice-oriented work with them: earth science, atmospheric research or testing of new aircraft components. Thus tested, the DLR as the flutter of aircraft wings and ways to suppress it. This also serves to reduce aircraft noise. In so-called flying simulators flight behavior of an aircraft may be imitated, which are not yet built. Thus, the Airbus A380 has been tested early. The VFW 614 ATTAS different systems were tested about drones of the Bundeswehr. On June 27, 2012 ATTAS was taken due to damage to an engine and the lack of spare parts out of service permanently.
Since January 24, 2009 the DLR is the high-altitude research aircraft HALO ( High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft) Gulfstream G550 is available to be used in atmospheric research and earth observation. With an altitude of more than 15 km and a range of more than 8000 km, HALO will provide first measurements on the scale of continents, at all latitudes, from the tropics to the poles, and at altitudes up to the lower stratosphere.
The newest and largest fleet member, the Airbus A320 -232 D- ATRA is from the end of 2008 for the German Centre for Aerospace in use. ATRA (Advanced Technology Research Aircraft ) is a modern and flexible flight test platform, not only in size sets a new benchmark for flying test bed in the European aerospace research.
Together with NASA, DLR operates the flying infrared telescope SOFIA ( Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy ). As a platform, a Boeing 747SP, whose hull was modified for the inclusion of a reflecting telescope is developed in Germany. The aircraft is operated by the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field California. At three to four nights a week on up to eight hours will be observed from 12 to 14 km altitude. SOFIA is designed for an operating life of 20 years. It replaces its predecessor, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory ( KAO), which was in use from 1974 to 1995.
On the basis of a model helicopter for the flight test vehicle unmanned helicopter ARTIS is developed at the DLR Institute of Flight Systems in Braunschweig. The aim of the project is to investigate novel systems and algorithms for autonomous intelligent functions and to evaluate the experiment. These include the fullest possible simulation of a mechanical pilot on board the aircraft, which automatically detects obstacles during the flight through new terrain, as well as the independent adjustments of a flight plan by environmental changes. The research helicopter ARTIS can thus find its way into the air alone, without a man on the ground remotely controls the aircraft.
Emission research
DLR operates research on carbon dioxide and noise emissions in air traffic. To avoid an increase in the noise pollution caused by air traffic despite rising traffic volumes, research, DLR possibilities of noise reduction. The research project " Noise-optimized and departure procedures " is about part of the national research project " Quiet Traffic ". The aim of the project is to determine flight procedures that reduce noise during takeoff and landing. These include, for example, the noise propagation is analyzed on the ground at takeoff, with many microphones. It also attempts to reduce the noise at the source, for example the Umströmungs and engine noise. Sources of noise in the engine, it is hoped to minimize the so-called anti-sound.
In terms of carbon dioxide emissions in air traffic, the German Centre for Aerospace research, for example to model calculations for the change in global air fleet to hydrogen power. The above-average growth rates in air traffic lead to considering whether the associated environmental and climate impact through a hydrogen-powered zero carbon dioxide emissions can be limited.
Hydrogen energy
In the area of energy research, DLR researchers working among other things on the Hydrosol project. This is the first time managed to split water using solar energy into hydrogen and oxygen thermally without carbon dioxide emissions. For the team in 2007 was awarded together with other working groups with the Descartes Prize for Research of the European Commission.
Currently, DLR tested a self-launching motor glider Antares 20E, in which the electricity is generated by means of hydrogen through a fuel cell.
Solar tower power plant
2007 was the first commercial solar tower power plant in operation. It has a capacity of eleven megawatts and is operated near Seville in Sanlúcar la Mayor in Spain. On the technology development for this type of power plant, the DLR is currently operating: In solar tower power plants, the direct sun tracking individual mirrors ( heliostats ) the solar radiation on a central heat exchanger ( receiver) that is located on a tower. In this way, high temperature heat is generated. This can then be coupled in gas or steam turbine power plants to generate electricity for the national grid. Solar thermal tower plants also provide a technological basis to make future solar fuels, such as hydrogen, carbon dioxide without emissions.
Columbus space laboratory
In February 2008, the Columbus laboratory was brought Europe's principal contribution to the International Space Station into orbit and docked with the ISS. The cylindrical module with a diameter of 4.5 m is equipped with modern scientific institutions. It will enable researchers on Earth thousands of experiments in life sciences, materials science, fluid physics and many other fields under conditions of weightlessness in space. DLR operates in Oberpfaffenhofen, the Columbus Control Centre and is responsible for the coordination of scientific activities, as well as system operation and the preservation of life on board the Columbus laboratory in orbit.
Rosetta Mission (1993 - 2015)
The Rosetta mission of the European Space Agency is exploring to genesis of our solar system, by examining one of the oldest and most authentic celestial body, a comet. Launched in March 2004 to probe in May 2014 reach the comet 67 P / Churyumov- Gerasimenko after more than ten years of flying. The mission consists of an orbiter and the Philae lander. DLR had significant interests in the construction of the lander and operates the Lander Control Center, which is prepared and look after the landing on the comet.
Events
In the two-year cycle, the DLR will host the major event of the "Day of Aerospace " from at his home in Cologne.
In 2009, the DLR and the European Space Agency ( ESA) presented together with other partners from Porz examples from their research. Patron was Karl -Theodor zu Guttenberg, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology. At the event, about 100,000 spectators were counted on the grounds of the DLR according to media reports.
From April 2009 to December 2010 an exhibition was at the Gasometer Oberhausen under the title Star Hour Wonders of the Solar System. She offered ( as part of the Programme of RUHR.2010 - European Capital of Culture ) replicas of the planetary system and recordings of alien worlds, including a replica of the largest moon on Earth.
In 2011 took place the day of Aerospace under the patronage of Dr. Philipp Rösler, Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, held and with 85,000 visitors again haunted well. Main attractions at the DLR premises were in addition to the research fleet DLR particularly the Airbus A380 as well as the parabolic flight Airbus A 300 Zero G and the first to be observed in Germany flying observatory SOFIA ( Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy ) by NASA and DLR.
In March 2012, took place on location in Stuttgart, the first annual "Memory Symposium " instead. Topics of the symposium are papers on electrochemical and thermal energy storage for stationary and mobile energy supply.
Public relations
In March 2012, DLR made all the images of his self-created web portal for the re-use under a free Creative Commons license.
Since November 2010, the DLR published in cooperation with ESA, the podcast series " space-time ". The podcast by Tim Pritlove, the DLR and ESA staff on the different topics and tasks will be moderated interviewed this.