Germany’s new lunar mission hub
Germany’s new control centre for lunar missions as well as prospective Mars missions is to be built in Oberpfaffenhofen in Bavaria.
A new control centre for future astronautical space travel is to be set up at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen in Bavaria: the Human Exploration Control Center (HECC). Planning provides for astronautical and robot missions to Moon and Mars to be managed from the new facility in the future, including in cooperation with European partners, aiming to improve Germany’s and Europe’s independence in space travel. The Free State of Bavaria supports the construction project with 58 million euros in funding, and the DLR contributes another 20 million euros in basic funding from the federal and state governments.
The HECC will be established as part of the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) and is to build upon experiences from operating the ISS Columbus Module. An additional complex of buildings with room for up to 200 employees, multi-mission rooms, cleanrooms and high-security areas will be built. Among other things, the centre is to support the European contributions to the Gateway Lunar Space Station, which is part of the Artemis programme. Construction is scheduled to start in 2028, and operations are to start up in 2030.
