Controlled re-entry from space - DLR develops custom flight control system for SHEFEX II
Unlike its predecessor, the experimental sharp-edged spacecraft SHEFEX II (SHarp Edge Flight EXperiment) will be actively controlled during its re-entry into the atmosphere. The German Aerospace Centre (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has developed a custom aerodynamic flight control system for SHEFEX II, which will be used to control the craft as it returns to Earth. Read more
German scientists unveiled on Friday the key part of a flat-sided, re-usable space rocket they say would be much cheaper and easier to build than NASA's space shuttles. Clusters four satellites, Rumba, Samba, Salsa, and Tango, fly in formation around Earth to provide a 3D picture of how the continuous solar wind of charged particles or plasma from the Sun affects our near-Earth space environment and its protective magnetic bubble, known as the magnetosphere. Read more