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In Walt Disney's comic book "Donald Duck", Gyro Gearloose has a little helper - an electric bulb with two legs - always at his side to serve him. Although Alin Albu-Schäffer has yet to come up with a walking light bulb like that - a presence that is always close by, ready to accept instructions and to assist people - his research work is clearly guided by a similar vision. Albu-Schäffer is a Department Head at the Robotics and Mechatronics Center of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and is involved in the development of robots for use in space, industry and medicine.

This panoramic view of the Airbus A300 ZERO-G captures a moment of weightlessness on a parabolic flight. You can scroll across the image horizontally and vertically by holding down the mouse button or by using the arrow keys. The test equipment is secured to the aircraft cabin. A number of researchers are using floor-mounted lashings to prevent themselves from floating away from the equipment.

The first 3D images from the TanDEM-X satellite mission are now available. Just one month after the launch of TanDEM-X, which took place on 21 June 2010, DLR researchers have created the first digital elevation model – almost a week ahead of schedule. A group of Russian islands in the Arctic Ocean was selected for the first test.

Is it possible that there are salt solutions on Mars that remain liquid despite the extremely low temperatures – a class of fluids known as cryobrines? Research findings at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have shown that this is a theoretical possibility. Prof. Diedrich Möhlmann of the DLR Institute of Planetary Research presented these initial findings on Friday 23 July and Saturday 24 July 2010 at the international COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) 2010 conference in Bremen.

If an oil spill wasn't responsible for the formations in these TerraSAR-X images, they might seem like the work of an artist. The images were acquired over the Gulf of Mexico on 9 July 2010. For researchers, such imagery is key in forecasting the distribution of the oil slick.

Their hands are inside unwieldy spacesuit gloves, their feet in clunky boots, and the air they breathe comes through a tube. German astronaut candidate Alexander Gerst and his Italian colleague Samantha Cristoforetti are floating in a water tank designed for weightlessness training. The tank is located at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) of the European Space Agency (ESA), on the grounds of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne. What neither of them knows yet is that trainer Hervé Stevenin has prepared a number of surprises for this 'excursion into space'. These include swapped tools and a fainting fit.

On 10 August 2010, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) inaugurated its first satellite data receiving station in Inuvik, Canada. DLR will use the new ground station particularly to receive data for the German TanDEM-X satellite mission.

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is developing the Antares H3 in cooperation with Lange Research Aircraft GmbH. The Antares H3 is a higher-performance successor of the Antares DLR-H2, the world's first piloted aircraft capable of performing a complete flight powered by fuel cells alone. The Antares H3 will set new range and endurance benchmarks. The project started in August 2010 and the first flight is scheduled to take place in 2011.

In 1992, Klaus-Dietrich Flade became the fifth German to fly to space. His mission, Mir '92, lasted for seven days. Alongside scientific experiments, it also involved taking the mouse that starred in the German television programme 'Sendung mit der Maus' (Mouse TV) into space. Klaus-Dietrich Flade is now a test pilot for Airbus in Toulouse. In this interview he talks about his trip to space, his present job and his reasons for returning to flying.

Orcus Patera is an enigmatic elliptical depression approximately 380 by 140 kilometres in size; it is located near the Martian equator, in the eastern hemisphere of the planet – between the volcanoes of Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons. How it was formed remains a mystery. The High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter acquired the images. The camera is operated by the German Aerospace Center.

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 Center (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.