German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Idefix is a demonstration of the power of teamwork – within DLR and with our friends around the world 🤝 Its job within the MMX mission is to scout the surface of Phobos before the spacecraft lands to collect samples and bring them back to Earth. 🌍🧪

As MMX leaves Earth, another spacecraft is back – despite launching in 2023. Europe’s JUICE mission is on an eight-year journey to Jupiter and its icy moons, with four gravity-assist flybys of Earth, the Moon and Venus.

On 28 September it made its third flyby – its second past Earth – and took these pictures with its high-res JANUS camera, built with help from DLR. 👆

Lift-off! 🚀 The H3 rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on 19 October 2026. Our German-French rover Idefix® is on its way to Mars’ moon Phobos on board the MMX mission. 🥳 #GoodLuckMMX

dlr.deMMX mission successfully launched – Idefix® rover on its way to Martian moon PhobosThe exploration of the Martian system is entering a new phase. On 19 October 2026 at 21:41 CEST, the Japanese MMX spacecraft was successfully launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on board a H3 l...

Want to know more about the Idefix® rover and JAXA's MMX mission? Read about it here: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

MMX is on its own! The spacecraft has separated from the H3 second stage and is now heading for Mars by itself.🔴

The H3 core stage has finished its burn and separated. 🚀 The second stage now takes over to send MMX on its way to Mars before releasing the spacecraft.

Fairing off – MMX gets its first look at the stars ✨ ✨ The protective nose cone has split and fallen away now that the rocket is in the vacuum of space.

Booster separation! 💥 All four solid rocket boosters have separated from the H3 rocket after powering MMX through the densest layers of Earth's atmosphere.

Lift-off! 🚀 The H3 rocket just launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Our German-French rover Idefix®️ is on its way to space on board the MMX mission. 🥳 #GoodLuckMMX

youtube.comLaunch live streaming of Martian Moons eXploration (MMX)/H3 Launch Vehicle flight No.10(English)YouTube video by JAXA | 宇宙航空研究開発機構

🎥 Live now! Join us to watch the MMX mission launch and see Idefix® set off on its journey to Phobos: www.youtube.com/live/Fn6gzuG... 🚀 Liftoff is planned for 21:41 CEST.

German Aerospace Center (DLR)@dlr-en.bsky.social

Today's the day! JAXA’s MMX mission is set to lift off at 21:41 CEST from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan – with the DLR/CNES rover Idefix® on board. 🚀 Follow the countdown live from 20:45 CEST: www.youtube.com/live/Fn6gzuG...

Idefix® is headed for Phobos, the larger of the two Martian moons. It will be the first lander ever to touch down there, scouting the surface before MMX lands to collect samples and bring them back to Earth. They could help reveal how the Martian moons formed. 🌑

Bon voyage, Idefix®! 🚀 Our team sends the little rover off to the Martian moon Phobos with JAXA’s MMX mission, launching 19 October at 21:41 CEST from Tanegashima, Japan. Special guest: Bert 🐾, our four-legged walking robot. Go boldly, Idefix®!

In space, a doctor’s appointment isn’t a one-off – it’s many months of round-the-clock trust. For 8 months, Bimba Hoyer watched over Sophie Adenot’s health from Earth. Now she has accompanied the ESA astronaut to Cologne for 2-3 weeks of rehabilitation after mission εpsilon. 🩺🚀

Why rehab? Microgravity changes the body: 👁️ Reshaping the eyeball, causing lasting vision changes 🤸‍♀️ Back muscles go largely unused, impairing upper-body movement 🩸 The cardiovascular system weakens without the stimulus of standing up The programme helps her readapt – body and mind.

Who looks after an astronaut's health in space? 🩺 Flight surgeon Bimba Hoyer (DLR/ESA) supported Sophie Adenot throughout her ISS mission, including live from NASA mission control during her spacewalks. 🧑‍🚀Now she's by Sophie's side again at :envihab in Cologne.

Learn more about Bimba Hoyer and her work: www.dlr.de/en/blog/arch...

dlr.deThe MAPHEUS projectMAPHEUS® is a sounding rocket programme of DLR. It serves as a central platform for conducting experiments in the materials and life sciences, as well as for technology testing in microgravity conditi...

MAPHEUS-17 has lift-off! 🚀 Our sounding rocket launched from Esrange in Sweden on 1 October and took a payload of experiments to just under 300 kilometres, giving them around seven minutes of microgravity. Learn more: www.dlr.de/en/research-...

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On board: alloys solidifying in tiny furnaces, a miniature microscope for studying cells, generators that turn heat into electricity – plus four experiments built by teams of early-career researchers.

And a first, in collaboration with ESA: a few minutes after lift-off, our Falcon 20E research aircraft followed the rocket's exhaust plume to test how rocket emissions can be measured in the atmosphere.

The DLR sounding rocket MAPHEUS-17 launching from the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. Credit: SSC Space

Itching to work on some #Inktober artwork? Join @cnes.fr's #MMXtober with daily art challenges to do with MMX and Idefix now through launch day, 19 October! Follow along with us, CNES and JAXA all month for inspiration as we get ready for the mission to set off on its journey to Mars and Phobos.

CNES@cnes.fr

🎨🚀 Le #MMXtober est lancé ! Du 1er au 19 octobre, 19 thèmes inspirés de la mission MMX pour laisser parler votre créativité jusqu’au décollage. Dessin, photo, collage, création numérique… tout est permis ! Partagez vos créations avec #MMXtober et taguez le CNES : nous en repartagerons certaines 👀

German Aerospace Center (DLR) reposted

ESA Technology

@technology.esa.int

🤘 The fifth space metal lands on Earth, this time including miniature thrusters 🔥 Made by @esa.int’s metal 3D printer on the International Space Station, this sample was designed in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) @dlr-en.bsky.social. 👉 www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...

🌔 For long-stay Moon missions, astronauts will need more than food-in-a-tube… so maybe they can grow fresh vegetables? 🥦🍅 DLR is working with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency to start planning for a space greenhouse demonstrator to grow 'space plants'. Learn more: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

The rover itself is also the product of collaboration. Idefix was created by various DLR institutes, as well as CNES and external contributors. Designing it during the COVID pandemic presented challenges to working together, but also let them take advantage of new remote working skills.

After months of construction, our MODULARIS seagoing technology platform touched water for the first time last week in Flensburg. The hull is complete – next it heads to Bremerhaven for fitting-out. 🧵

From keel-laying to launch in around four months: shipyard staff and DLR worked side by side to get MODULARIS ready.

Next stop, Bremerhaven – via the Kiel Canal. Once fitted out with sensors, automation and alternative propulsion systems, MODULARIS will test new maritime technologies at sea, with its home port in Kiel.

Shake, rattle and roll – on the Moon🌘 Earthquakes aren’t unique to Earth. 'Moonquakes', however, happen for different reasons than here at home. Without plate tectonics, the Moon shakes because of: 🌍Earth’s gravity 🗜the Moon is shrinking! ☄️meteoroid impacts 🌡️temperature changes between day and night

But there’s also something mysterious happening deep inside the Moon that we don’t yet understand, as Maria Richter from DLR’s LUNA Hall explains ⬆️.

Learning more about the origins and effects of moonquakes will expand our understanding of the Moon and support future lunar missions, so scientists are looking at options to study them in space and down here on Earth – including at our LUNA Hall in Cologne.

🛏️ 🚆Is this Europe’s future night train? Europe is experiencing a night train renaissance. In the ALISA project, we are reimagining their design: lightweight, modular, capacity increased by 40%, improved comfort and privacy, step-free access and convertible from seat to bed, day to night.

dlr.deALISA project presents concept for Europe's night train of the futureOn 22 September, at InnoTrans 2026 – the international transport technology trade fair in Berlin – DLR presented a new concept for European night train travel, together with project collaborators.

All of this without adding extra axle load – designed for cost-effective operation and with sustainability at its heart. Learn more ⬇️

23 Sept

Mars has two moons, Deimos and Phobos: small, lumpy, cratered rocks that look more like asteroids. Scientists still aren't sure how either got there: captured asteroid, or debris from a giant impact on Mars? DLR's Stephan Ulamec breaks down the mystery, and why it matters for MMX and Idefix®.

Before a plane or engine gets certified, it must survive a bird strike. This is tested by firing bird remains (not live birds) from gas guns. We're building an artificial bird dummy to replace that – no birds harmed in our tests. 🪶✈️

Early results already show a strong match with real-bird data – a big step towards testing that's more reproducible and uses fewer animals overall.

🛤️ All aboard the InnoTrans2026! DLR will present its latest projects from rail research at InnoTrans2026. InnoTrans2026 will take place from 22 to 25 September 2026 in Berlin.

dlr.deDLR at InnoTrans 2026At InnoTrans, the leading international trade fair for rail and transport technology in Berlin, DLR will present the latest projects from its rail research. From 22 to 25 September 2026, innovative so...

The topics include: 🚇 Remote-controlled and automated rail operation ⚙️ Novel bogies for less noise and wear 🚺 Gender-inclusive public transport design 🌡️ Climate control on trains 📻 Precise communication, positioning and distance measurement 📱 Public transport planning and software Read more:

9 Sept

🤖 15 of the world's most advanced AI-based robots took the stage at the European Parliament in Brussels last week. Our humanoid Rollin' Justin showed off its skills as a household assistant, alongside drones, quadrupeds and industrial systems.

9 Sept

🌟The event was initiated by euROBIN, the European network of excellence coordinated by DLR. The aim is to secure Europe's competitiveness and technological sovereignty while addressing societal challenges.

3 Sept

MMX is ready for launch! 🚀🛰️ JAXA recently unveiled the completed spacecraft, with the DLR/CNES Idefix rover mounted between its landing legs. Roughly the size of a crate of drinks, Idefix weighs just 25 kilograms. 🤏

3 Sept

Around the turn of 2028/2029, MMX will release Idefix into free fall towards Phobos from a height of approx. 40 metres. It will be the first wheeled rover to drive on a body with gravity under a thousandth of Earth's. The countdown is on – 46 days to go 🚀

13 Aug

🌕 New results from our MARE experiment! The AstroRad protective vest could reduce an astronaut's radiation dose by up to nearly 60% during a strong solar storm. ☀️ This was tested by flying two radiation measuring phantoms, Helga and Zohar, around the Moon and back on NASA's Artemis I in 2022.

13 Aug

The DLR-led MARE experiment is also the first study to measure radiation risk in the female body beyond low Earth orbit – a key step towards safer, long-duration crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. 🚀 ℹ️: www.dlr.de/en/latest/ne...

13 Aug

📸 Image 1: NASA/Frank Michaux Image 2: NASA/Lockheed Martin/DLR Image 3: Science Advances Image 4: DLR

3 Aug

🏎️Meet U-Shift: a modular vehicle concept developed at DLR. A U-shaped, automated electric Driveboard pairs with interchangeable capsules for passengers or cargo. In U-Shift II, researchers built a new automated prototype and demonstrated centimetre-precise capsule docking. 🚐⚡

3 Aug

🧑‍💻 The project was led by DLR with FKFS Stuttgart, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and @uniulm.bsky.social. Next: a test fleet will be trialled in Braunschweig, Germany, from mid-2027, complementing public transport. 👀

31 July

🔥🌍Watching wildfires from orbit – and helping crews on the ground respond faster. DLR's Fire Monitoring System uses MODIS data from NASA's Terra-1 and Aqua-1 satellites, and the Sentinel-3 OLCI, to track burning areas almost in real time. 🔍