Asia in short Japan’s attempt to start a space junk cleanup company is off to a promising start, after the ADRAS-J satellite spotted its first target and returned images.
Launched in February 2024, ADRAS-J was sent to find an old HII-A rocket body used to launch the GOSAT Earth observation satellite and then release it into orbit.
Last Thursday, the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) published an image of the booster captured by ADRAS-J from a distance of “several hundred meters”.
JAXA’s report on the mission states that assumptions about the HII-1A’s orientation – presumably upright – have been confirmed.
Another hypothesis – that the spent booster would turn brown over time in space – was also confirmed.
ADRAS-J’s current activities are Phase 1 of the Commercial Removal of Debris Debris Demonstration (CRD2) project. In phase 2, scheduled for 2026, JAXA aims to remove debris from orbit – as a proof of concept for commercial space debris cleanup services.
Unfortunately, the project relies on automated and/or remote-controlled equipment: there are currently no plans for waste removal work in space.
Image of CRD2’s target space debris taken by the ADRAS-J visible light camera © Astroscale – Click to enlarge
The Chinese smartphone market is showing unexpected growth
Strong demand for mid-range smartphones during the Lunar New Year period saw the Chinese market for these devices grow – perhaps a sign of recovery.
Analyst firm IDC reported last week that local brands Honor and Huawei experienced strong growth, with a market share of 17.1 percent and 17 percent respectively. Oppo went from 19.8 percent market share to 15.7 percent, while gravity hit Apple as its market share fell from 17.8 to 15.6 percent.
The market grew 6.5 percent year on year to 69.3 million units in the first quarter of 2024.
Rival analyst firm Canalys also saw strong growth, with 67.7 million shipments, but reported that Huawei topped the list with a 17 percent share and Oppo and Honor were second with 16 percent of the market each.
Vivo’s 10.3 million handset shipments saw them ahead of Apple’s 10 million, but Canalys estimated both had 15 percent of the market.
“Honor rose to the top spot thanks to its well-rounded product portfolio and Magic 6 series, which came with popular AI features,” explained Arthur Guo, senior research analyst at IDC China at Client System Research. “Meanwhile, Huawei made a strong comeback and tied with Honor, although supply constraints will still be a sore point. Apple’s price promotions in the quarter failed to soften the impact of fierce competition from Android players.”
Canalys senior analyst Toby Zhu suggested that Huawei’s performance means HarmonyOS has become the “third operating system for smartphones and other edge computing devices, breaking the two horse race of Android and iOS in mainland China.”
North Korea cybers the South
South Korea’s national police warned last week that North Korean attackers were targeting defense companies with the aim of stealing information about their technology.
North Korean cyber operatives – including the infamous Kimsuky gang – also left behind some malware as they snooped through the servers.
The national police warned that the attacks will continue.
China sets new IPv6 targets
The Cyberspace Administration of China has set new targets for IPv6 adoption.
By the end of 2024, the government wants 800 million active IPv6 users and 650 million Internet of Things connections using the protocol.
The goals are that by the end of the year, 23 percent of fixed network traffic should be IPv6, plus 65 percent of mobile traffic.
Beijing wants more IPv6 home routers and for government agencies to upgrade to the protocol as they upgrade networks.
Also on the agenda is participation in standards groups to develop “IPv6+” and other innovations.
Malaysia dangles golden visas for venture capital
Malaysia last week announced a ‘golden pass’ to lure venture capital and technology leaders to the country. The visa reduces the registration time from six weeks to two, if approved. “Together with the other agencies, we are also pleased to connect venture capital firms with the local community, and potentially identify partners in their quest to tap into Malaysian and regional opportunities,” said enthusiastic securities committee chairman Dato’ Seri Dr . Awang Adek Hussin, who spoke at the KL20 summit last Monday.
– Laura Dobberstein
APAC Deal Book
Recent alliances and deals spotted by The register in the region last week include:
- Australian telecoms company Telstra has signed a five-year deal with professional services firm Cognizant, which will become ‘a strategic partner for our software engineering and IT function’. Telstra said Cognizant “will help us build our modern software engineering capabilities.”
- OceanBase, a database provider that is part of Alibaba’s Ant Group fintech arm, scored a win against Chinese autonomous driving systems supplier Haomo.ai.
- Australian data center provider Firmus Technologies last week launched “Sustainable Metal Cloud” (SMC) – a GPU-centric hyperscaler that already operates 1,200 Nvidia H100 GPUs in Singapore and plans to expand that to 5,000, before expanding to India, Thailand, Australia and Europe in association with ST Telemedia. SMC claims that its data center management methodology and practices make it possible to use approximately half of the electricity consumed by generalist hyperscalers, potentially reducing the cost of running AI workloads by 70 percent.
- Real-time payments provider Volt has launched a one-click payment solution for residential customers in Australia. According to a statement, the feature integrates with PayTo, allowing retailers to receive payments instantly. ®