- Korean Lunar Orbiter Danuri successfully proceeds the Trajectory Correction Maneuver
- Korea to build research reactor and isotope application research center
- eSIM available from September, 2022
Korean Lunar Orbiter Danuri successfully proceeds the Trajectory Correction Maneuver
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI, President: Lee Sang-Ryul) announced that the second Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) was conducted successfully on September 2 at 17:00.
The second TCM is an essential process to maximize the fuel efficiency and meet the schedule to reach the moon on time.
KARI initially planned to confirm the final TCM outcome at 17:00 September 4, after about 48 hours of trajectory information assessment, but the actual confirmation time was 18:00 September 3, because the assessment only took 25 hours. The faster confirmation was possible thanks to the prior experience of the first TCM and the fact that the trajectory information came out almost identical to the forecast.
As the second TCM was conducted successfully, the next TCM, originally planned at September 16, will not be conducted.
Korea to build research reactor and isotope application research center
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT, Minister: Lee Jong-Ho) held a ceremony to commemorate the establishment of a research reactor and an isotope utilization research center on August 31 at the medical science business zone located at Gijang, Busan.
The construction of research reactor is planned to be completed by the year 2027, and the reactor will bring independence in supply chain of isotopes used in industries and medical sectors, and it will further make exports to foreign market possible. Also, the core nuclear fuel technologies used in construction will contribute largely to the competitiveness when reaching out overseas to export or to study. The isotope application research center will play a key role as an essential institute to support domestic isotope research and commercialization.
Today’s event served as a venue to encourage communication and participation of local residents and people of interest including experts from industry, academia, and research institutes of radiation and nuclear power in a bid to successfully carry out the projects until the year 2027.
Minister Lee Jong-Ho of Science and ICT said “MSIT will fully support successful construction of the research reactor and the isotope application research center to make Gijang, Busan the main cluster for production, research, industrialization of world class isotope.” He added, “When the research reactor is operated in 2028, national medical welfare will be improved with reasonably priced and indigenously developed isotope to diagnose and cure cancers. During the construction period, the construction itself will serve to vitalize and make nuclear industry grow.”
eSIM available from September, 2022
The eSIMs, or embedded SIMs, are now available for smartphones using the three major mobile carriers, KT, SKT, and LGU+, and mobile virtual network operator, MVNO.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT, Minister: Lee Jong-Ho) announced the measures to adopt eSIM for smartphones last year in cooperation with mobile carriers, phone manufacturers, and the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT). The announcement was followed by the system development, device manufacture, and system improvement, and it led to the initiation of eSIM service.
Users can now get a phone with either eSIM or USIM, and eSIM has some advantages. It doesn’t require time for delivery and is cheaper (2,750 won) than USIM (7,700 won). However, whereas USIMs can be re-used when changing the phone devices, eSIMs cannot be re-downloaded. It will cost additional expenses to the users when users are changing the devices but keeping the carrier.
The three major mobile carriers are having a promotion to provide complimentary eSIMs to new eSIM subscribers between September to December. MSIT will continuously work with the phone manufacturers and mobile carriers to enlarge the number of possible devices that eSIMs can be adopted.
The smartphones with the eSIMs can be opened as a dual SIM phone, where users can use both USIM and eSIM to have two phone numbers using only one smartphone. It is also possible to subscribe to two different carriers with just one smartphone, using dual SIM. However, even dual SIM phones can only be opened for one person under one name in order to avoid cell phone fraud.
MSIT will conduct constant monitoring of phone number usage in consideration of the potential increase of dual SIM demand, and respond without fail by efficiently managing number resources.
SOURCE : Ministry of Science and ICT
