S. Korea opens new state-of-the-art science museum

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will unveil a state-of-the-art science museum this week that is designed to give visitors direct exposure to natural wonders and human breakthroughs, the government said Sunday.

The new Gwacheon National Science Museum that opens Friday displays 4,203
different objects covering 685 subjects, making it one of the largest in the
world, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said.
It said the museum located south of Seoul has 19,127 square meters of display
space designed to allow people to touch and operate 51.6 percent of all the items
shown.
The sprawling complex built on 243,970 square meters of land next to Seoul Grand
Park features the main three-story museum building, a planetarium, an observatory
and other hands-on facilities that merge science, nature and culture.
The observatory has a visual and radio telescope, with the latter used to search
for extraterrestrial intelligence.
The ministry said the museum features an earthquake simulation room, a wind
tunnel that can generate winds with speeds of up to 30 meters per second, and a
center that can give a glimpse of possible advances in information technology,
such a wearable PCs, ubiquitous classrooms, art museums and streets.
There are also models of the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research
fusion energy testbed and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor
being built in France.
Fusion power is a technology involving the creation of an environment where a
super-hot plasma field can be maintained for long periods of time. Once this
state is reached, it can be fueled by naturally abundant deuterium and tritium,
two types of hydrogen, allowing a fusion reaction that can effectively create an
artificial sun.
Other displays include life-sized models of dinosaurs, the T-50 Golden Eagle
supersonic jet trainer and the KSR-III liquid fuel rocket that was successfully
launched in 2002.
The museum also has an outdoor conservation park and an aquarium where people can
see various marine life of the country's rivers, lakes and ponds.
The government spent 450 billion won (US$340 million) and 30 months to build the
facility that is three times larger than the existing National Science Museum in
Daejeon.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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