News

08.12.2015 The inflight EMC test has been completed sucessfully (see photo by P. Preusse, FZJ). Flight planning for the scientific flights is in progress.

03.12.2015 The EMC flight is now scheduled for Tuesday 08.12.2015 and we are considering the options for a first long science flight later that week. Flight planning is in full swing (see photo by T. Leder, DLR).

02.12.2015
All necessary documentation needed for achieving the Permit to Fly (PfF) has been submitted to the Federal Aviation Office (Luftfahrtbundesamt, LBA). The pre-briefing for preparing the EMC flight has been completed today. Count-down plans for a possible flight on 3 or 4 December 2015 have been agreed on. We are now waiting for clearance from the LBA.

18.11.2015 The ground-based EMC tests have been completed successfully on 17 and 18 November 2015. Short status and planning meetings are scheduled for 25 November 2015 (11 am) and 1 December 2015 (2 pm). The functionality of the IRIDIUM satellite link as high-latitude back-up for INMARSAT has been tested successfully on 23 November 2015 to allow chat funcionality for operators also north of ~70°N.

02.11.2015 The Integration Phase of the POLSTRACC/GW-LCYCLE/SALSA payload has started. The instrument integration will be finished until mid of November and will be followed by certification and ground-based EMC tests. The inflight EMC test is scheduled for the first week of December.

03.07.2015
The Critical Design Review of the combined HALO payload for POLSTRACC/GW-LCYCLE/SALSA and WISE has been performed successfully on 23 June 2015, and no major technical problems have been identified. "Design Freeze" is scheduled for 17 July 2015. The finalization of the instrument Interchange Control Documents is scheduled for mid of September 2015 and will be followed by the "Final Critical Design Review" at the beginning of October 2015.

29.05.2015
The Critical Design Review of the POLSTRACC-Payload of HALO is scheduled for 23 June 2015 at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen.

08.04.2015
The POLSTRACC mission will be presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2015 (Vienna, 12-17 April 2015) in the AS3.12 Polar Ozone and Polar Stratospheric Clouds Session on Thursday, 16 April.

26-27.03.2015
Flight planning associated to the joint POLSTRACC/SALSA/GW-LCYCLE (PGS) campaigns was exercised at the Mission Rehearsal at DLR-IPA, Oberpfaffenhofen.

13.02.2015
The instrument test integration during the "Stellprobe" (02.-06.02.2015) at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen was finished successfully. On 05.02.2015, the Preliminary Design Review was performed and the timeline for the mission preparation phase was refined. During the Status Meeting at the same day, logistic aspects of the campaign phases in Kiruna and scientific flight scenarios were discussed. The Mission Rehearsal is scheduled for 26.-27.03.2015 at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen.

02.12.2014
The "Stellprobe" is scheduled for 02.-06.02.2015 at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen. In the same week, a Status Meeting will take place at the same location.

13.-14.11.2014
POLSTRACC General Meeting at KIT, Karlsruhe: Discussion of the timeline, payload, flight operations, certification and logistics of the joint POLSTRACC, GW-LCYCLE and SALSA campaigns. Data products for scientific flight planning are presented and a Mission Rehearsal is planned for early 2015 at DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen.

28.05.2014
POLSTRACC Kick-Off-Meeting, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen

22-23.04.2013
POLSTRACC/ROMIC meeting at KIT, Karlsruhe: The scientific objectives of POLSTRACC/GW-LCYCLE are sharpened and the HALO payload configuration is discussed.