X-Nico

13 unusual facts about Oberpfaffenhofen


DFS Kopernikus

The orbital station keeping manoeuvres of the satellites were conducted by the Flight Dynamics Group of the German Aerospace Center (German Space Operations Center) in Oberpfaffenhofen, Bavaria.

Dornier 328

The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, conducted sales from San Antonio, Texas, United States, and supported the product line from both locations.

Ernst Messerschmid

From 1978 to 1982, he worked at the DFVLR (the precursor of the DLR) in the Institute of Communications Technology in Oberpfaffenhofen on space-borne communications.

Fairchild Dornier 328JET

The resulting corporation, named Fairchild Dornier, continued the production of the 328 family in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, conducted sales from San Antonio, Texas, and supported the product line from both locations.

Fairchild Dornier 728 family

The prototype currently still stands on the former firm area of Dornier in Oberpfaffenhofen.

Gerhard Thiele

During the mission, which took part in April 1993, he worked in the Payload Operations Control Center of DLR at Oberpfaffenhofen as the alternate payload specialist.

German Aerospace Center

In the context of DLR's initiatives to promote young research talent, ten DLR School Labs were set up in Berlin-Adlershof, Braunschweig, Bremen, Cologne-Porz, Dortmund, Göttingen, Hamburg-Harburg, Lampoldshausen/Stuttgart, Neustrelitz, and Oberpfaffenhofen over the past years.

Neptun radar

Manufacturer: Flugfunkforschungsinstitut Oberpfaffenhofen (FFO, German for "airborne radio research institute" in Bavaria)

Oberpfaffenhofen

Also situated in Oberpfaffenhofen is the industrial area of (the now insolvent) Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH (later part of Fairchild Dornier).

The village is home to a major site of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) and became hence known to a wide audience when, in 1983 the first West-German astronaut, the physicist Ulf Merbold flew to space on board a Space Shuttle in the context of the Spacelab missions.

TanDEM-X

Researchers at the German Aerospace Center facility in Oberpfaffenhofen published the first 3D images from the TanDEM-X satellite mission.

TerraSAR-X

The ground operating mechanism and controls for the TerraSAR X is developed by the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen.

US Orbital Segment

The segment is monitored and controlled from various mission control centers around the world including Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Columbus Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Japan, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.


Heinrich Welker

During the war years, 1940 to 1945, Welker worked at Luftfunkforschungs Institut in Oberpfaffenhofen, but still maintained association (1942 to 1944) with the physicochemical institute of Klaus Clusius at the University of Munich.