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by Staff Writers
Bonn, Germany (SPX) May 24, 2010
On Friday, 21 May 2010 at 19:01 local time (22 Mai, 00:01 Central European Time), the 50th Ariane 5 launcher lifted off on schedule from Europe's Spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana. The payload for this mission comprised the Astra 3B commercial telecommunication satellite and the second communications satellite for the German armed forces (Bundeswehr), COMSATBw-2.

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is responsible for the orbital positioning and flight operations of this satellite, and has also been involved in a range of comprehensive propulsion unit tests which have played a significant role in the success story of the Ariane launch vehicles. This flight, V194, was the first Ariane flight of 2010, the 50th liftoff for an Ariane 5 and the 194th mission for the Ariane family of launchers.

First radio contact after 33 minutes
"Thirty-three minutes after the launch, we established radio contact with the 2.5-ton COMSATBw-2 satellite via the antennas of the Indian ground station in Bangalore. Seventy DLR scientists and engineers were involved in taking control of the spacecraft," reports Thomas Kuch - Director of Mission Operations for the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) - at DLR Oberpfaffenhofen.

GSOC has been running successful space missions since 1968. At present, DLR has five satellites for scientific and commercial Earth observation under its control, as well as the European research laboratory Columbus on the International Space Station (ISS).

COMSATBw-1 in orbit since October 2009
In October 2009, flight engineers at GSOC took control of COMSATBw-1, the Germany armed forces' first communications satellite. "COMSATBw-2 will also be positioned by the Space Operations Center in a geostationary orbit over the next few weeks, at an altitude of approximately 36,000 kilometres.

In other words, it will be 'parked' in its intended orbital position," explains Thomas Kuch as he runs through the next steps for this mission. This will be followed by the 'commissioning' or initial operation of the satellite subsystems. Antennas and solar panels will be deployed and subjected to in-orbit tests lasting several weeks. In the course of these tests, the satellite will be configured for its intended application.

"Following the successful operational acceptance of COMSATBw-2 in orbit, the new satellite system will be handed over for regular operations, which are scheduled to last for the next 15 years. At DLR, 30 members of staff will be involved in these operations," states Mission Operations Director Kuch.

The satellites COMSATBw-1 and COMSATBw-2 form part of the German armed forces' SATCOMBw programme. Alongside the two communications satellites, this system includes stations and monitoring equipment on ground, and - for the first time - it facilitates autonomous, worldwide transmission of voice and data as well as video and multimedia applications. The entire system is scheduled to commence full-scale operations by early 2011.

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by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) May 24, 2010
A Japanese research team has found a material that could be used to make a low-price super disc with data storage capacity thousands of times greater than a DVD, the lead scientist said Monday.

The material transforms from a black-colour metal state that conducts electricity into a brown semiconductor when hit by light, according to Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, chemistry professor at the University of Tokyo.

The material, a new crystal form of titanium oxide, can switch back and forth between the metal and semiconductor states at room temperature when exposed to light, creating an effective on-off function for data storage.

It is "promising as a material for a next-generation optical storage device," Ohkoshi told AFP by telephone.

A material that changes colour with light can be used in storage devices as colours reflect light differently to contain different information.

His team has succeeded in creating the material in particles measuring five-to-20 nanometres (a five-billionth to 20-billionth of a metre) in diameter.

If the smallest particle is used, the new disc could hold more than 1,000 times as much information as a Blu-ray disc, provided that matching data-writing and reading equipment are developed.

A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold five times as much data as a conventional DVD.

Titanium oxide's market price is about one-hundredth of the rare element -- germanium-antimony-tellurium -- that is currently used in rewritable Blu-ray discs and DVDs, Ohkoshi said.

"You don't have to worry about procuring rare metals. Titanium oxide is cheap and safe, already being used in many products ranging from face powder to white paint," the professor said.

Ohkoshi said it was not known when a disc with the material would be manufactured and put to practical use, adding that he would start talks with private-sector companies for commercialisation.

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