DLR - Blogs

Tweeting from space for the digital public

Mon, 21 May 2012 16:20:00 +0200

Three space agencies, DLR, ESA and NASA, as well as their astronauts tweet, blog and post messages on a wide array of social media channels; often, they or respectively their astronauts even do so from space. Why do they do this, and how does it work? Here is what astronauts and social media experts at DLR, ESA and NASA had to say on this subject at re:publica 2012, Germany’s largest and most prominent conference on the future of society and all things digital.

Long time no see ...

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:00:00 +0200

Quite some time has passed since my previous blog post – it was on the launch of the third European space transporter, ATV-3. This isn't due to any 'blog fatigue' on my part, but rather to the many activities that have simply kept me from writing my next entry. But I guess you could say that this is a fairly weak excuse, since it does not really take all that long to write a blog post. Blog entries give me the opportunity to report on my work as Chairman of the DLR Executive Board outside the 'normal' channels of communication and thus to allow all interested parties, both within and outside DLR, to gain a little more insight.

See the ISS with your own eyes

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:50:00 +0200

Live webcasts have become increasingly common, enabling any Internet user to follow spaceflight events such as launches, dockings or daily life on board the International Space Station (ISS). But there is a way to experience the wonder of spaceflight even more directly – with your own eyes. This is because the Space Station is visible at certain times as a small, bright point of light moving rapidly across the morning or evening sky. Many people are fascinated when they observe the ISS in this way, especially for the first time. In this blog entry I will explain how you can observe the ISS yourself.

DLR, NASA and ESA at re:publica Berlin

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:50:00 +0200

I have great pleasure in announcing that members of DLR, NASA and ESA will be participating in a session at re:publica Berlin from 2 to 4 May 2012. According to the organisers, re:publica is “Germany’s largest and most prominent conference on the future of society and all things digital.”

Space Tweetup in numbers

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:50:00 +0200

Last week, on 28/29 March 2012, the fourth European SpaceTweetup took place in Toulouse, France. A good reason to blog about the reach and numbers of such a communication measure. Plenty has already been written about the first European Space Tweetup, organised by DLR and ESA, which took place in September 2011, so I will - with some delay - now just concentrate on the numbers here. For any readers who want to know more about the SpaceTweetup and find out what it was all about, I recommend this or that blog article.

ATV-3 Edoardo Amaldi

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:50:00 +0200

On 23 March 2012, an Ariane 5 rocket took off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana carrying the third European ATV space transporter to the International Space Station (ISS). I had the opportunity to witness the launch on location together with the representatives of other ESA member states, and to discuss future activities in the European space sector. It was an ideal opportunity to prepare the formal agreements for the next few weeks and months leading up to the ESA Ministerial Conference.

SOFIA: Stars and the Space Between

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0100

The American Museum of Natural History just published a video introducing SOFIA, the NASA DLR airborne observatory. It gives a very good overview of the programme, the science and the aircraft. Watch the 8-minute feature 'SOFIA: Stars and the Space Between' here.

Looking for tracks on the Moon

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:40:00 +0100

As a lunar observer, I am repeatedly asked whether the tracks of the six Apollo missions can be seen through a telescope. After all, the descent stages of the lunar modules, three lunar rovers and a lot of scientific equipment were left behind there. Unfortunately, this is impossible even with the largest ground-based telescopes. But on the Internet, it is possible for everyone to go out and explore.

Creative Commons: the 'Everyone licence' and DLR’s content

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:20:00 +0100

It all began when Mathias Schindler of Wikimedia Germany contacted us here at the DLR Communications Department in May 2009 with an enquiry regarding the usage rights for DLR image material by Wikipedia and the associated Wikimedia Commons media archive. Here is a brief summary of the telephone conference that followed shortly afterwards – if DLR content, specifically our image material, continues to be associated with traditional ‘all rights reserved’ terms of use, it cannot be used by, for example, Wikipedia. The use of the Creative Commons (CC) licensing model might represent a solution.

Aerospace podcasts

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:10:00 +0100

Alongside numerous blogs and Wikipedia articles on aerospace, the Internet has more information to offer on this subject. There are, for example, podcasts – in addition to those available at Raumzeit (Space-time), jointly produced by DLR and ESA, I would now like to draw your attention to the podcast site omega tau . Podcasts are an interesting channel for science communicators to disseminate information about science and technology.

DLR 'on the move' – mobile version of the website now online

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:20:00 +0100

All the latest stories about DLR's sites, institutes and missions are now also available in a version for smartphones. Simply go to www.dlr.de/ or m.dlr.de/en/ on your mobile device.

Usability testing: information scientists take a close look at the DLR web portal

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0100

With today's contribution I want to fulfil the promise I made in the blog entry I wrote on 12 July 2011 to inform you about the results of the tests on the usability of the German Aerospace Center's (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und- Raumfahrt; DLR) new web portal.

SpaceTweetup - a new format for spaceflight communication

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:40:00 +0100

On 18 September 2011, German Aerospace Day, DLR and ESA staged the first European SpaceTweetup. A tweetup is an event in which users of the social media platform Twitter meet up. Together with ESA, we invited our Twitter followers to come and find out more about the European aerospace industry, meet scientists and astronauts and have a look at our research facilities and aircraft.

Lessons from the end of the ROSAT mission

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0200

The German ROSAT research satellite was launched on 1 June 1990 on a Delta II launcher and successfully scanned space for X-ray sources for nine years. Its record of achievements extends from discovering countless X-ray sources to analysing galactic clusters, X-ray binary stars and black holes to discovering the reflection of the Sun's X-ray radiation by the Moon. The findings by the scientists involved in the mission have appeared in over 7000 publications. After orbiting Earth for 21 years, ROSAT re-entered the atmosphere over the Bay of Bengal. It is not known whether any parts reached the Earth's surface.

The tension builds up – SOFIA to land at Cologne-Bonn Airport on Saturday at 06:50

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:10:00 +0200

The airborne observatory SOFIA will arrive at Cologne-Bonn Airport on Saturday 17 September 2011 at about 06:50 CEST. The aircraft will be one of the attractions during German Aerospace Day, which takes place on the following day. The flight from the United States to Germany can be followed live online from 19:10 CEST – learn how in this blog post.