By Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
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China Just Announced That It's Sending the First Humans to Mars
China's go-to rocket manufacturer revealed a roadmap for the nation's forthcoming crewed missions to Mars, according to an initial report from Global Times.
While the nation's plans also call for a permanent Mars base, NASA, SpaceX, or another conventional spaceworthy power will likely beat them to it. But it's great to see China stepping up, and committing to aspirational goals like landing the first humans on the Red Planet.
China aims to put the first humans on Mars by 2033
The Head of state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) Wang Xiaojun announced the plans during a speech called "The Space Transportation System of Human Mars Exploration", which took place at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2021), à la virtual link, according to the Global Times report. In review of the success of China's Tianwen-1 probe, the nation's first interplanetary mission to orbit, land, and see a rover disembark on the Red Planet — in one comprehensive mission — Wang declared his nation's three-step plan to put humans on Mars.
The primary stage, also called the technology preparation phase, will reportedly involve robots designed to return Mars samples, and explore a base site for a future human installation on Mars. Afterward, a second stage will send humans there, who will construct a permanent base. Once it's completed, a third stage will see large-scale Earth-to-Mars cargo fleets depart to seed and accelerate development projects on the Red Planet. The schedule for these and additional phases are 2033, 2035, 2037, 2041, 2043, and more, according to the academy.
Notably, China is considering nuclear-propelled vehicles for human missions of exploration to Mars, in addition to a "Sky Ladder" system, which is currently under investigation as a means of reducing the scale or cost of future probe and transport missions to the Red Planet. We're not sure what the academy means by "Sky Ladder", but, taking a wild guess: it could be a space elevator. While not a new idea, the notion of building a vertical transport connecting a planet's surface to orbital altitudes would be extremely difficult, on Mars or Earth, to pull off. But the technological skills necessary for such a grandiose feat of engineering may simply not exist yet.
If this is a space race, China isn't winning yet
There exists an illustration of a "Space Ladder" in a Xinhua Global Service report, which depicts a crewed or cargo space capsule moving up a carbon nanotube "ladder" toward a space station, from where it's launched once more, to explore deep space. But the capsule can also dock with a second lunar space station, and then be carried down another "ladder" to the moon's surface. This comes on the heels of China and Russia jointly announcing plans to build a lunar base, but China has also disclosed plans to explore distant asteroids, and even the Jovian system, according to the report.
It's important to keep in mind that, unlike the U.S., where NASA, SpaceX, and many other private aerospace players collaborate to build economically feasible systems like a heterogeneous space program, China is fairly united under one system, and so announcing detailed plans of its forthcoming expansion into space before the U.S. or other powers is not very surprising. But this doesn't mean China will be the first to settle humans on Mars, or the moon, or anywhere else, not necessarily. Suffice to say that if we're entering another space race, China is doing great, but to say it's winning would be misguided.
Visual Capitalist Elements | September 15, 2021 | 8:58 am Intelligence Australia USA Coal The Countries With the Largest Coal Reserves Cheap and abundant coal remains one of the largest sources of energy worldwide, even as governments set out goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While jurisdictions in Europe and North America have been phasing out coal use in power generation, it has been on the rise in Asia. China and India are scrambling to provide electricity to a growing population and relying on coal power plants to meet demands despite the environmental costs. SIGN UP FOR THE ENERGY DIGEST Sign Up This infographic takes a look into the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021 , and the 11 countries that make up 89% of the coal reserves globally. Coal Reserves, by Country While countries need to phase out coal by 2040 to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC, consumption in key ...
The epic vessel is a 30-knot "battlewagon" designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish. It's also decidedly lavish. By HOWARD WALKER Courtesy Vripack To hook the world’s biggest fighting fish, in the words of Chief Brody in the classic 1975 movie Jaws , “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Privately owned fishing boats won’t come any bigger than this astonishing 171-foot super-luxury sportfisherman, set to claim the title of “World’s Largest Sportfish Superyacht.” Designed by Dutch naval architects Vripack , and soon to start construction at the Royal Huisman yard in the Netherlands, Project 406 as it’s currently codenamed, will be a 30-knot “battlewagon,” designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish to the ends of the earth. “Project 406 is a sportfishing machine on steroids,” Vripack co-creative director Bart M. Bouwhuis told Robb Report . “It has the proportions of a typical American sportfishing ...
The speedy LAR-01's automotive interior adds comfort and luxury. Plus: The wings detach, so the jet can be stored in a home garage. By MICHAEL VERDON Courtesy Flaris The Flaris LAR-01 has a number of striking stats, including being a ton lighter (literally) than its competitors, along with an unusually short-field landing capability, and detachable wings. But its most impressive number is the 250-knot true air speed, which its designers say makes it the world’s fastest business jet among single-engine very light jets and turboprop aircraft. Flaris says recent tests “confirmed the assumptions made previously” about the effectiveness of multiple systems, including its Garmin G600 avionics and Flaris Flight Assistance System flight computer, as well as the landing gear and emergency parachute system. But it also claims more impressive stats like the 250-knot TSA at 10,000 feet. Its 6,000-feet-per-minute climb rate, adds the compan...
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