Since the dawn of aviation, a glider flight over the world's highest mountain was considered unimaginable. In 2014, this impossibility became reality. The team of the project initiated by Rene Heise and Klaus Ohlmann in 1998... Mountain Wave Project (MWP) They realized this vision. They flew a motor glider over the Himalayas at an altitude of over 9.000 meters.

• The mission: Research into extreme mountain waves, turbulence and pollutant dispersion in the atmosphere.
• The technology: The Stemme S10 VT served as the research platform – an aerodynamically optimized motor glider with excellent gliding performance. It enables self-launching from simple mountain airfields and simultaneously provides enough power for camera systems and sensors.
• The camera system: The photogrammetric MACS camera system developed by DLR was specifically designed to capture extreme altitudes, steep mountain slopes and strong brightness contrasts in high resolution.
• The result: Crystal-clear images of the Khumbu Glacier with a ground resolution of 20 cm per pixel.
• The added value: A dataset for climate research, glacier monitoring and search and rescue operations.

Thanks to the collaboration between MWP, the DLR Institute of Space Research, ESRI, and RealityMaps, one of the most precise, photorealistic 3D models of Mount Everest has been created. A perfect interplay of aviation, engineering, and science.

Click here to go directly to the interactive 3D map of Mount Everest: https://og.realitymaps.de/everest-making-of

The 3D map is delivered via seamless, high-performance geodata streaming.