DLR
Germany joins JAXA’s low-cost deep space test mission
The German Aerospace Center, DLR, has partnered with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on a planned low-cost asteroid mission called Destiny+, expected to launch toward the asteroid 3200 Phaethon in 2024.
ESA awards €1.5 million to three German launch startups
The European Space Agency awarded German launch startups HyImpulse Technologies, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and Isar Aerospace a combined 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) to support development of competing smallsat launchers.
HyImpulse hybrid rocket motor roars to life for the first time
HyImpulse completed the first hot-fire test of the company’s 16,800-pounds-force hybrid rocket motor on Sept. 15. Credit: HyImpulse
DLR spinoff HyImpulse plans small launcher debut in 2022
A startup formed by rocket engineers from the German space agency DLR is targeting late 2022 for the first flight of a small launch vehicle designed around hybrid engines.
German launch startups win DLR funds • Comtech wants out of Gilat merger • ClearSpace forming debris removal team
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TOP STORIES
ESA selects prime contractors for six new Copernicus missions
The European Space Agency on July 1 awarded 2.5 billion euros in development contracts for six new Earth-observation missions under the Copernicus remote-sensing satellite program.
Advanced technology, investment clearing way for spaceliners
Development of spaceplanes for suborbital tourism, satellite launches and point-to-point terrestrial transportation are benefiting from advanced technology, panelists said at the Space Tech Expo Europe.
Space agency leaders discuss ever-expanding roles for AI
At the Space Tech Expo, space agency leaders said artificial intelligence will play key roles in many space programs of the future.
DLR, Teledyne begin hyperspectral imaging from ISS
The German Space Agency DLR and Teledyne Brown Engineering of Huntsville, Alabama, have started operation of a jointly funded hyperspectral imager attached to the exterior of the International Space Station.
Satellites for Intelsat, European lasercomm launch on Arianespace rocket
The Ariane 5 took off at 3:30 p.m. Eastern from Europe’s Guiana Space Center in South America, carrying the Intelsat-39 communications satellite and the EDRS-C laser relay satellite to geostationary transfer orbits.
Troubleshooting of Mars InSight instrument continues
Engineers are continuing to work to free an instrument on NASA’s InSight Mars lander that remains stuck just below the surface.
Germany begins reusability study to capture rockets in midair and land them with a plane
The Germany space agency DLR is beginning a study this month on a reusable launcher concept that would use a winged first-stage booster captured on descent by an aircraft and towed back to land.
GRACE mission comes to an end
An Earth science mission launched more than 15 years ago has finally come to an end, slightly earlier than previously expected, NASA announced Oct. 27.
NASA prepares to retire GRACE Earth science satellites
An aging German-American Earth science mission will come to an end this fall, months before the launch of a next-generation satellite pair.
Germany’s long-awaited Heinrich Hertz satellite now expected to launch in 2021
Germany’s space agency, DLR, signed a delayed but long-expected contract with Bremen-based satellite manufacturer OHB Systems for an experimental telecommunications satellite that will be used in part by the Bundeswehr, Germany’s Federal Armed Forces.
