Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
BRUNNER ELEKTRONIK AG
Industriestrasse 27
CH-8335 Hittnau
tel +41 (0)44 953 1010
fax +41 (0)44 953 1019
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The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is the national aeronautics and space research center of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport, security and digitalisation is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. DLR is also responsible for the planning and implementation of Germany's space activities on behalf of the federal government. DLR is also the umbrella organisation for one of Germany's largest project management agencies.
DLR's mission comprises the exploration of Earth and the Solar System and research for protecting the environment. This includes the development of environment-friendly technologies for energy supply and future mobility, as well as for communications and security. DLR's research portfolio ranges from fundamental research to the development of products for tomorrow. In this way, DLR contributes the scientific and technical expertise that it has acquired to the enhancement of Germany as a location for industry and technology. DLR operates major research facilities for its own projects and as a service for clients and partners. It also fosters the development of the next generation of researchers, provides expert advisory services to government and is a driving force in the regions where its facilities are located.
The DLR Institute of Software Methods for Product Virtualization in Dresden conducts research in the field of computer science for the development of software for the description and realization of the virtual product in aeronautics. The goal is to base the product virtualization on high-quality, multi-disciplinary simulation methods and to bundle the growing virtualization know-how internally in close collaboration with colleagues from other aeronautic institutes. Based on the long-term requirements of the specialized institutes, this research expertise is to be further developed strategically and novel, innovative ways and opportunities for integrated digitization are to be demonstrated. The department of High Performance Computing researches benchmarks and evaluates new algorithms as well as programming and data models, with a focus on improving the efficiency of simulation software for current and future high-performance computing architectures. As a competence center the experts work together with other DLR institutes and contribute their know-how to tackle the challenges in the area of high-performance computing.
DLR is the national aeronautics and space research centre of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its extensive research and development work in aeronautics, space, energy, transport and security is integrated into national and international cooperative ventures. In addition to its own research, as Germany’s space agency, DLR has been given responsibility by the federal government for the planning and implementation of the German space programme. DLR is also the umbrella organisation for the nation’s largest project management agency.
Electric Propulsion has been a topic of interest to DLR for two decades. Very successful EP projects have been performed in cooperation with German space industry. Two very promising thruster concepts have been developed in Germany with DLR funding, the RID and the HEMP technology. The RID ion thrusters, built by Astrium (now Airbus D&S), first installed on the ESA Artemis satellite and designed for station keeping maneuvers in geostationary orbit, were used to raise the orbit of the satellite from 31000 km to 36000 km in an almost continuous firing period of 18 months. The HEMP thrusters developed by Thales Electronic Systems, Ulm, and right now undergoing final qualification testing, offer additional advantages in terms of simplicity and robustness. The development of both technologies has been funded and supervised by DLR.
The second most important subsystem of any Electric Propulsion system is the power supply. In fact, DLR has – again in cooperation with industry - put comparable effort and funding into the development of a generic power supply for EP systems, which will be used for several ESA and national satellite missions equipped with Electric Propulsion systems.
Additional expertise within DLR has been built up in the field of testing Electric Propulsion systems. Unlike chemical propulsion systems, ion thrusters cannot be operated in atmospheric environment, but only in vacuum. This fact adds considerably to the complexity and cost of EP development. DLR is able to offer experience also in this often underestimated territory. Last but not least, DLR is engaged – together with industry and academia - in the development of simulation software, which shall enable faster characterization of ion thrusters than would be possible by measurement. First results indicate that this development will enable faster and more error-free design of future thrusters models scaled to higher thrust and/or higher efficiency.