Dr. Niklas Reinke
© DWIH Tokyo / Dr. Niklas Reinke
Meet our Partners in Japan!
Did you know that Japan and Germany are connected across roughly 150 topics in space alone? Today, we are pleased to introduce Dr. Niklas Reinke, Director of the Tokyo Office of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), who plays a key role in strengthening this collaboration.
Since 1996, JAXA and DLR have built a close and dynamic partnership—reaching from Earth all the way into deep space. Three standout projects highlight this partnership: MMX (Martian Moons eXploration), aiming to land a rover on Mars’ moon Phobos for the very first time (a Japanese-German-French collaboration), CALLISTO, developing reusable rocket stages with vertical landing capabilities to help make space transport more affordable (Japanese-German-French collaboration), and DESTINY+, heading to asteroid 3200 Phaethon to study cosmic dust and uncover clues about the origins of life and the evolution of our Solar System (German-Japanese collaboration).
At the center of it all, Dr. Reinke helps connect partners across borders – and while reaching for the stars professionally, he’s also known to explore Japan’s culinary universe…
Stay tuned as we continue to spotlight the people driving Japan–Germany collaboration forward!
Meet Our Partners in Japan 🇩🇪🇯🇵
Check out other posts in our social media series “Meet Our Partners in Japan” here:
https://www.dwih-tokyo.org/en/activities/news/?tag=meet-our-partners-in-japan
Published on: August 20, 2026