Asia In Brief Chinese rocketry outfit LandSpace last week flew what it hoped would be the country’s first reusable rocket, only to watch it explode while attempting to land.

The Zhuque-3 Y1 lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone last Wednesday and performed as expected by placing its second stage in the desired orbit. But the planned soft landing of its first stage went awry, causing an explosion.

LandSpace nonetheless celebrated the mission for successfully demonstrating several new technologies, among them a nine-engine parallel liquid oxygen-methane propulsion system, new aerodynamic and flight control tech, and advanced welding techniques that reduced manufacturing costs by 80 percent.

“Breakthroughs were made in online trajectory optimization, attitude stabilization, and high-precision control technologies under complex constraints, wide-range state changes, and highly uncertain environments,” the company said.

The company also pointed out that its rocket used a “high-bandwidth, high-reliability real-time communication platform based on high-speed Powerlink real-time Ethernet” that allowed comms “exceeding 100Mbps, a hundredfold improvement over the traditional 1553B rocket.”

“A high-performance return control computer was developed using an advanced, highly reliable computing platform from automotive electronics, achieving more than 10 times the computing power of traditional launch vehicles, creating a new type of productivity that integrates rocket avionics systems with high-end advanced manufacturing,” the company enthused.

Coupang crisis leads to revised cyber-certs

South Korea’s government on Monday announced plans to strengthen security certifications in the wake of the attack on e-tailer Coupang that saw thieves make off with data describing more than half of the nation’s population.

Coupang has again apologized for the incident and over the weekend reported that it has found no evidence that attackers have re-used the stolen data.

Korea’s government, however, has decided that it needs to toughen the infosec certification standards required of outfits like Coupang, in the hope that doing so prevents further incidents of this nature.

Seoul wants its new standards to become mandatory for major online players, and will require post-incident audits to determine the reasons for failures.

APAC datacenter capacity to triple by 2029

Analyst firm IDC last week predicted the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region’s datacenter capacity, measured by the quantity of energy available in bit barns, will triple by 2029.

The firm said APAC is currently home to 51,887 MW of compute capacity, and will house 142,600 MW by 2029.

“Demand for AI, cloud, and other digital services is rising fast, pushing hyperscalers, cloud providers, and digital service operators to expand at record speed,” the firm asserted.

AI is, of course, the major reason for this expansion.

“Major construction and expansion projects across India, Malaysia, Japan, and Southeast Asia are also fueling growth,” IDC advised. “These new and upgraded facilities are reshaping the region’s digital infrastructure as operators work to deliver high-density, scalable, and AI-ready data centers that can meet next-generation compute needs.”

• Google and Apple ordered to stop fake government TXTs
• 70-hour work weeks no longer enough for Infosys founder, who praises China’s 996 culture
• Jaguar Land Rover hack cost India’s Tata Motors around $2.4 billion and counting
• Data breach at Chinese infosec firm reveals cyber-weapons and target list

Malaysia hunts power-stealing bitcoin miners

The government of Malaysia has launched a task force to chase thieves who have stolen more than $1 billion worth of energy from the grid in the past year to mine bitcoin, Bloomberg reported last week. Authorities have identified around14,000 illicit mining sites in the past five years, leading to a 300 percent rise in electricity theft.

The taskforce will identify mining operations – which apparently run in locations like abandoned storefronts and homes – with drones, thermal scanners, and other technologies

Cryptocurrency mining is legal in Malaysia, but tight regulations around legal mining has spurred an outpouring of illegal operations.

– Brandon Vigliarolo

Canon closes Chinese printer plant

Japanese giant Canon last week told Chinese state media it has closed its printer factory in Guangdong province, due to falling demand for the devices.

In a statement provided China Daily, a Canon spokesperson said falling demand for laser printers, around the world and in China, meant closing the plan was its only option.

Canon’s other operations in China continue.

Learn tech in Pakistan, win a bike

The Pakistani province of Punjab last week launched a new scholarship scheme that it hopes will encourage young people to learn tech skills and become freelance workers.

The Hunarmand Punjab scheme offers selected participants a free laptop and solar panel to keep it powered. Some can also win a free e-bike.

Courses available under the scheme include python programming, cybersecurity, digital marketing, and WordPress development.

The province suggests using skills acquired through the program to become a freelance techie-for-hire. Pakistan sees freelancers as its chance to build a technology services industry around gig-work platforms like Fiverr and Freelancer.com. ®