German Aerospace Center (DLR)

The ministers responsible for space in ESA's Member States, Associate Members and Cooperating States at the Ministerial Council #CM25 in Bremen, Germany, November 2025.

Climate strategy put to the test: reducing contrails Europe is taking an important step toward climate-compatible aviation: with the A4CLIMATE project, researchers and industry partners want to find out how contrails can be effectively avoided – and to ...

ℹ️ Learn more: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

💨Did you know contrails impact the climate as much as all aviation CO₂?

✈️The EU-funded #A4CLIMATE project is tackling this challenge with real-time contrail measurements, smart flight paths, new engine technologies and alternative fuels – paving the way for smart, clean and competitive aviation.🌍

YouTube video by European Space Agency, ESA The epic adventures of BepiColombo | Part 2: It’s a long way to Mercury

Space adventurers Bepi, Mio and MTM have just one year to go until they reach Mercury. What have they been up to since their journey began in 2018?
Watch episode 2 of 'The epic adventures of BepiColombo' here 👉 youtu.be/41EdqhlH3PQ 👀
🔭 #planetsci #BepiColombo

Good luck on your journey! If only you could have met our Idefix! I'm sure you would have been such great friends🥰🚀

Follow CM25 online The European Space Agency's Ministerial Council – more formally Council at Ministerial level – takes place in Bremen, Germany on 26 and 27 November 2025. 

📺 Our Ministerial Council takes place this week, 26-27 November, in Bremen, Germany. Vital decisions will be made on Europe's future in space. You can follow events live on the days here! 👇
www.esa.int/About_Us/Min...

Also check out our dedicated #CM25 website 👇 🔗 esa.int/CM25

Why is this important? When humans return to the Moon, water will be essential – not just for drinking, but also as rocket fuel! 🚀 This campaign brings us closer to locating water ice, paving the way for long-term lunar missions and sustainable exploration. 👩‍🚀

@esa.int #Moon #space #DLR #LUNA

🌕 On the hunt for Moon water! 💧

Researchers have tested innovative methods to detect water on the Moon as part of the Polar Explorer campaign. Using rovers, lasers, and radar📡, they successfully mapped water ice deposits hidden on and under the surface of our 700 m2 LUNA analogue hall. 🧊

Space Tech Expo 2025 – DLR is back as one of the largest exhibitors Space Tech Expo Europe is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Bremen, from 18 to 20 November. DLR will once again be participating with one of the largest exhibition booths in Hall 5, Stand J28.

ℹ️ Learn more: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

Some highlights include:

🌍 SPACEBUZZ ONE – 15-min VR Earth & Moon flight
🚀 ReFEx – reusable rocket stage
🛰️ SpaceMast – ultra-light satellite structures
📢 Heinrich Hertz – next-gen satellite comms
🪨 APPARILLO – smart space debris tracking

We hope to see you there!

DLR is back at Space Tech Expo 2025! 🚀

From rocket technologies to Earth observation – join us from November 18–20 at the 10th edition of Space Tech Expo in Bremen. 🇩🇪 As one of the largest exhibitors, we’re showcasing cutting-edge innovations you don’t want to miss.

Sentinel-6B launched to extend record of sea-level rise The latest guardian of our oceans has taken its place in orbit. The Copernicus Sentinel-6B satellite is now circling Earth, ready to continue a decades-long mission to track the height of the planet’s...

Mission confirmed ✅

#CopernicusEU Sentinel-6B is now in orbit and ready to begin its Launch & Early Operations phase with @operations.esa.int. The satellite is ready to continue a decades-long mission to track the height of the planet’s seas – a key measure of climate change.

Martian ice age: Tectonic drift 🧊❄️

New #HRSC images from @esa.int's #MarsExpress reveal Coloe Fossae – trenches carved by glaciers and tectonic shifts during a long past Martian ice age. A window into Mars’s climate history… Just don’t expect cynical mammoths or goofy sloths strolling by! 🦣🦥

Two Red Kite motors propel 500 kilograms of experiments into microgravity DLR regularly conducted flights with sounding rockets as part of its MAPHEUS programme. At 05:05 CET on 12 November 2025, the MAPHEUS-16 mission launched to begin its journey into weightlessness. For ...

ℹ️ Learn more: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

A successful launch for MAPHEUS-16! 🚀

Launched from SSC’s Esrange site early this morning, this sounding rocket carried 21 science experiments – from 3D printing to organoids – into microgravity, advancing materials science, tech and medical research for both space and Earth. 🌌🌍

Made in microgravity – catalysts for life in space To sustain a human presence on the Moon or Mars, we need to develop technologies that can use local resources like water to produce oxygen and hydrogen that can be used as fuels and for life support. ...

🏠🌕 To live on the Moon or Mars, we would need technologies that can use local resources to create materials essential for our survival. The University of Bremen explored if the unique conditions of space itself could help us with this 👉 www.esa.int/Enabling_Sup...

🛰️Sentinel-1D satellite successfully launched! 🚀

Together with its companion satellite Sentinel-1C (launched in 2024), 1D will capture Earth’s surface in its entirety every 6 days! A major step for Earth observation.🌍

ℹ️ www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

Watch live: Sentinel-1D launch on Ariane 6 The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is about to get its fourth satellite, with Sentinel-1D now ready for liftoff. Launch will take place with an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana and live cover...

🚀 #WatchLive: Tonight we have the launch of the #Copernicus Sentinel-1D satellite on Ariane 6 flight #VA265. Tune in from 20:35 GMT/21:35 CET on #ESAwebTV2 to watch live.

📺 watch.esa.int

More details👇 @cnes.fr @euspa.bsky.social @ec.europa.eu @thalesaleniaspace.bsky.social @transport.esa.int

Launch Readiness Review concludes: we are ready!

🛰️Earth observer Copernicus Sentinel-1D is on its #Ariane6 rocket and set for launch.
☁️ Weather conditions favourable.
🚀 Liftoff at 21:03 GMT/22:03 CET
▶️ Watch live: www.esa.int/Applications...

Team Bremen competes in the ESA Space Resources Challenge 2025 From 13 to 17 October, eight teams competed against each other in the ESA Space Resources Challenge 2025 at the LUNA hall in Cologne, Germany, where they tested their innovative space applications. Am...

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The Coyote III rover depositing moon dust in the dosing machine. Both are located in the LUNA Moon analogue hall.

Five members of team BREMEN in the LUNA hall, standing around their rover and dosing system.

The Coyote III rover in the LUNA moon analog hall, surrounded by gray dust and rocks.

🌕 From Moon dust to mission essentials!

At the #LUNA hall, 8 teams competed in the @esa.int Space Resources Challenge 2025.

Team BREMEN (DLR + DFKI) showed off with the Coyote III rover🤖 & a Moon dust processor 🏗️– paving the way for long-term missions to the Moon! 🌙

✈️ Science in free-fall!
@dlr-spaceagency.bsky.social's 45th parabolic flight campaign lifts off from 🇫🇷! Eleven German experiments explore microgravity aboard the ZERO-G Airbus—from hydrogen bubbles to liquid metal spacecraft tech. 🔬 35 mins of weightlessness, without even going to space!🌍

The 45th parabolic flight campaign of @dlr-en.bsky.social & Novespace is starting! Our @uni-magdeburg.de are there!

Aboard is the CIRCULATION 1 experiment to test the functionality of the our #EUfunded magneto-acoustic bioprinter under microgravity conditions! 🧲 🔊 💗

Photos by Katrin Maria S

🌕 Robots on the Moon — almost!

Eight teams from 🇨🇦 🇩🇰 🇩🇪 🇱🇺 🇵🇱 🇬🇧 tested robotic systems to dig and sort simulated Moon soil at the @esa.int - @dlr-en.bsky.social LUNA facility in Cologne, Germany.

✨ The goal? Tech for sustainable lunar living.

🔗 www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

Final assembly of Ariane 6's Vinci upper stage engine to take place in Lampoldshausen Vinci, the upper stage engine of the Ariane 6 launcher, will in future be manufactured by ArianeGroup Germany in Lampoldshausen, where the final assembly of components such as turbopumps, valves and t...

ℹ️Learn more! www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

From turbopumps to thrust chambers, the Vinci engine will now be built & tested at the DLR site in Lampoldshausen, a major step towards the seamless integration of Ariane 6 and Europe’s independent access to space! 🤝 @esa.int @dlr-spaceagency.bsky.social

🚀Ariane 6 Vinci engine – now made in Germany! 🇩🇪

Following a joint agreement by ArianeGroup and DLR, ArianeGroup Germany will take over final assembly and testing of the Vinci engine — the powerhouse behind Ariane 6’s upper stage!

🚁 New drone test facility unveiled!

As part of the #Flybots initiative, a collaboration with @tu-braunschweig.de, we have constructed a drone cage ⛓️ – a place where unmanned aerial systems can be tested in a safe environment, with no chance of them flying off 🪰

Laying the foundation for a future quantum network – quantum channels tested in flight It is not easy to transmit individual photons precisely from an aircraft, capture them in a ground station and detect them successfully. Researchers have, however, now managed to do exactly that.

ℹ️ Learn more: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

Three researchers kneeling under the research aircraft looking at a laser-optical transmission and receiver system, attached to the underbelly of the plane.

A researcher checking the settings on the ion trap system.

The DLR research aircraft in its hangar.

📡✈️ Quantum communication takes off!

As part of the QuNET initiative, researchers from DLR and partners have successfully measured quantum channels between a DLR research aircraft and a ground station — a major milestone in quantum-secure communication. 📢