A man of many talents – bridging laboratory and workbench

Jens Hauslage is a rare individual, even given the diverse nature of DLR – he is a botanist. What at first glance may seem to have little connection to DLR’s research areas, is, at closer inspection, intrinsically linked to spaceflight. Gravity, says the biologist, is the only constant in evolution. This raises the question: What influence does gravity have on terrestrial life? Cells, for example, react to microgravity conditions after just a few seconds of exposure. To investigate this, Jens Hauslage studies samples in space or under space-like conditions, on parabolic flights, inside drop towers, on satellites and on sounding rockets such as MAPHEUS. He does so primarily using instruments he built himself, as the biologist is also a keen engineer.

If desks and office windowsills reflect the personality of their owner, one look into Hauslage’s office is enough. Plant trays, electronic components, special stones, tools and assembled gadgets such as a clock depicting his estimated travel time home in the after-work traffic populate his immediate working environment. “I’m in both worlds – the world of research and the world of engineering,” he says. “They each have their own language and I understand them both.” Most of the time, experts of both fields work together well as a team, but the exchange between the different disciplines is not always easy. The botanist with a doctorate sees himself as a link, a liaison between the two: designing experiments, evaluating data and writing scientific publications, but also tweaking, testing, trying things out and finding technical solutions to problems. Jens Hauslage’s working day is always different and seamlessly weaves together both research and engineering. DLR, he says, is the place where he can flourish.

“I see myself as an idea generator: I am driven by curiosity,” says Hauslage. He regards himself as a man of conviction, and is following a dream he has held since his primary school days. “I always wanted to be a researcher and do experiments.” Natural sciences were his passion: other subjects, less so. As a child, he would sit in front of the television to watch space shuttle launches or listen to the news about the Biosphere II project in the USA, in which a team lived within a closed ecosystem for two years. His first experience with a sounding rocket took place during his biology studies, before graduation, in which he took part in a Maxus 5 campaign. This took place in 2003 at the Esrange Space Center in Sweden. Since then, biology and spaceflight have been inseparable for Hauslage. “For me, spaceflight is the greatest inspiration for us on spaceship Earth, which is such a fragile and small home within the Solar System.” His ultimate goal is to help improve our understanding of the world in a way that brings together his love of science and technology.