In pursuit of these objectives, DLR links basic research with innovative applications, thus accomplishing the transfer of knowledge and research results to industry and politics.

In this way, DLR scientists are making a significant contribution to Germany's position as a scientific and economic hub, and to economic growth in Europe as a whole, for instance through the deployment of fuel cell technology, a satellite mission to explore the universe, and new approaches to energy research.

Space
Space telescope Herschel-Planck to be launched
The launch of the European Herschel-Planck astronomy mission using the Ariane 5 launch system in Kourou (French Guiana) is scheduled for 16 April 2009. It will be the last cornerstone mission of the Horizon 2000 programme drawn up by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1984.

Herschel will be the first space observatory to cover the whole spectral range from far infrared (FIR) to the sub-millimetre waveband (from 60 to 670 microns).

After the launch, the observatory will travel 1.5 million kilometres to be injected into orbit around the second Lagrangian point (L2, a point located around 1.5 million kilometres beyond the Earth's orbit, where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Sun are balanced out) of the Earth-Sun system.

This is a particularly favourable position, as there is minimal interference from infrared radiation coming from the Sun and the Earth.

The Planck satellite (formerly called COBRAS/SAMBA) carries a telescope with a 1.5 x 1.75 metre mirror and two instruments capable of measuring microwave radiation in different frequency bands. The data that will be obtained will help to answer fundamental questions: What did the early stages of the formation of our universe look like? How did it reach its present state? What will its future development look like?

New experiments from Germany on board the ISS - increased capacity thanks to six-astronaut crew
After the European Columbus laboratory was successfully launched on 7 February 2008 and docked with the International Space Station (ISS), its experimental devices were taken into operation and scientific research on board the station started right away.

German scientists play a leading role in this research: 40 percent of the European experiments are provided by German research institutions. Research on board the ISS will be given another boost in mid-2009: from then on there will be six astronauts on board the station at all times, which means that considerably more crew time will be available for scientific activities.

Many of the experiments in biology, medicine, plasma crystal research, fluid physics and radiology that were started in 2008 will be continued, and in some cases also completed this year.

New experiments will be added, such as projects of the Charite academic hospital in Berlin and the German Sport University Cologne on human thermal and circulatory regulation, or of the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine (DLR-Institut fur Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin) on the interplay between salt and water homeostasis and bone metabolism.

TanDEM-X to be launched: a three-dimensional elevation model of the Earth
The TanDEM-X mission (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement), scheduled to be launched in September, is based on two almost identical Earth observation satellites: TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. Both satellites are equipped with a powerful modern radar system, the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).

Using SAR, it is possible to observe the Earth not just in daylight, but also at night and in overcast conditions. Just like the two eyes of human beings enable them to perceive the world in three dimensions, TanDEM-X's two SAR antennas will enable it to generate a three-dimensional high-resolution elevation model of the entire surface of the Earth.

Technology to enable high data-transfer rates to mobile end users
The German national satellite communications mission Heinrich Hertz is aimed at conducting scientific and technical studies and tests of new communication technologies in space, such as broadband communications capable of offering high data rates to mobile end users.

In addition to this, the mission enables scientific institutions as well as industry to carry out a wide range of technological experiments.

At the same time, the selection of the new German SmallGEO satellite for this mission contributes to developing systems expertise in this field, the objective pursued by ESA and the Federal Republic of Germany in the context of the ARTES 11 programme. Phase A of the project will start before the end of this year, and the launch is planned for 2014.

Promoting the next generation of scientists - DLR_Graduate_Program
The aim of this special programme is to provide extra support to young scientific staff members. One of DLR's central tasks is to secure the future by promoting the next generation of scientists. This is especially important for high-tech sectors such as aerospace, transportation and energy.

The DLR_Graduate_Program was developed to provide young scientific staff members with intensive and high-quality supervision and to make DLR even more attractive for graduates. It is a professional training programme that offers important knowledge and skills that supplement the trainee's specialist work.

It aims to provide subject-specific and interdisciplinary contexts as well as career-enhancing management and social skills. The programme will be offered to all doctoral researchers who join DLR from 1 January 2009, and it will start in June 2009.

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