The DLR is Germany’s federal research centre for aerospace. It employs around 6500 staff, supports 29 institutes/testing and operational establishments, and is represented at 13 locations. The DLR has set itself the goal of developing its own satellite bus, named SSB (Standard Satellite Bus), which is due to be used for many different internal DLR missions.
The research conducted by the satellite systems organisational unit is the data sector specialising in "Reliable Computing". The strategy is not to avoid malfunctions, but rather to view these as normal events and manage them intelligently. This means a malfunction is no longer a surprise, and is instead – except at the time of its occurrence – an expected event, as it could not have been avoided with 100% certainty. For this purpose, research is being conducted directly in the area of interaction between various hardware and software components (middleware) for task distribution and fault-tolerant support.
IBV develops and manufactures prototypes for the SSB (Standard Satellite Bus).
Manfred Leder