Latest German Aerospace Center Stories

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA, completed the first of three science flights on Wednesday morning to demonstrate the aircraft's potential to make discoveries about the infrared universe.The airborne observatory is an international collaboration between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR). SOFIA is a heavily modified Boeing 747SP that cruises at altitudes between 39,000 and 45,000 feet. It will allow...

Natural disasters occur yearly on all continents, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and turning millions into refugees. In 1999, as a result of Hurricane Mitch in Central America, the International Charter "˜Space and Major Disasters' was initiated to provide aid workers with satellite data over affected areas. The Charter was founded by ESA and the French space agency, CNES, and formally began operating in October 2000. The Charter supports relief efforts and allows registered users to...

The heat in the atmosphere of Venus, induced from a strong greenhouse warming, might actually have a cooling effect on the planet's interior. This counter-intuitive theory is based on calculations from a new model presented at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) in Rome on Tuesday September 21st."For some decades we've known that the large amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of Venus cause the extreme heat we observe presently", explains Lena Noack from the...

ESA is inviting students to propose experiments to fly on sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons. The winning teams will have the opportunity to design and build an experiment for the BEXUS balloons or the REXUS rockets.The BEXUS (Balloon-borne Experiments for University Students) 12 and 13 balloons will be launched in October 2011 and the REXUS (Rocket-borne Experiments for University Students) 11 and 12 sounding rockets will be launched in March 2012, all from Kiruna in northern...

The German TanDEM-X satellite has launched into orbit on a mission to acquire the most precise 3D map of the Earth's surface. The radar spacecraft will fly into formation with an identical platform called TerraSAR-X launched in 2007. The pair will both measure the variation in height across the globe to an accuracy of better than six feet. Their digital elevation model will have a myriad of uses, such as helping military jets fly low to showing relief workers where an earthquake's damage is...

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and German Aerospace Center (DLR) Executive Board Chairman Johann-Dietrich Worner signed an agreement Thursday during a bilateral meeting in Berlin to extend the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission through the end of its on-orbit life, which is expected in 2015.Launched in March 2002, GRACE tracks changes in Earth's gravity field by noting minute changes in gravitational pull from local changes in Earth's mass. It does this by...

WASHINGTON, June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and German Aerospace Center (DLR) Executive Board Chairman Johann-Dietrich Worner signed an agreement Thursday during a bilateral meeting in Berlin to extend the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission through the end of its on-orbit life, which is expected in 2015. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Launched in March 2002, GRACE tracks changes in Earth's gravity...

The Berlin Air and Space Show, ILA, one of the world's largest aerospace trade shows, opens next week. Organized every two years by the German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI), it will be taking place at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport on June 8-13.ESA, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the BDLI have jointly designed a special pavilion, "˜Space for Earth', in the International Space Village (Hall 9), in which visitors can learn more about European space programs and German national...

COLUMBIA, Md., June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University Space Research Association (USRA) is extremely proud to announce the achievement of "first science light" by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) with the observatory's initial in-flight observations. With this major milestone, completed on May 26, 2010, SOFIA embarks on an anticipated 20 year career that promises to provide extraordinary insight into the solar system, our galaxy and the...

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., May 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint program by NASA and the German Aerospace Center, achieved a major milestone May 26, with its first in-flight night observations. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) "With this flight, SOFIA begins a 20-year journey that will enable a wide variety of astronomical science observations not possible from other Earth and space-borne...