Shenzhou-18: Three Chinese astronauts blast off to orbiting laboratory

Three astronauts launched to China’s Tiangong Space Station on Thursday for a six-month mission.

It is the seventh mission to the space station, which became operational in 2021.

The Shenzhou-18 mission lifted off aboard a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan spaceport in China at 8.59pm Beijing time (4.59pm UAE time).

China revealed the identities of the crew members on Wednesday.

Ye Guanfu, 43, is the commander, who took part in a mission to the station in 2021.

It is the first space flight for Li Cong, 34, and Li Guangsu, 36.

The crew members will join three astronauts who have been serving a mission since October and are due to land back on April 30.

Tiangong, which translates to “heavenly palace”, is about one fifth of the size of the International Space Station and can accommodate three astronauts, or six people during a short handover.

The T-shaped station includes the Tianhe core module and two laboratory modules, including the Wentian and Mentian.

China has previously said it is open to hosting astronauts from other nations on the station.

The country is quickly emerging as a major space power, having landed three vehicles on the Moon, including the Chang'e-4 mission in 2019, the world's first to touch down on the far side.

Its Zhurong Rover landed on Mars in 2021, where it captured several images of the planet's surface and science data. But it has not woken up from hibernation since 2022.

It also unveiled plans for a station on the Moon's surface, called the International Lunar Research Station.

The US and China are both targeting the same region of the Moon and have a similar timeline, with Washington hoping to land astronauts on the surface by 2026 and China aiming for 2030.

China is developing the Long March 9 rocket to send missions to the Moon.

No human beings have been to the lunar surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972 and new, more advanced, technology is needed to ensure the new era of Moon exploration is safe and sustainable.

The new US-China space race - in pictures

Nasa's Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts to the Moon. It orbited the lunar surface in 2022 as part of an uncrewed test flight. Nasa
China is developing the Long March 9 rocket, which would be powerful enough for Moon missions. The Long March 5b rocket, pictured, carried China's Tianhe space station module in 2021. AFP
Nasa's Space Launch System, a rocket powerful enough for Moon missions, blasts off on a test flight on November 16, 2022. Reuters
China's Tiangong space station, which is currently hosting astronauts. CMSA
Chinese astronauts prepare for a flight to the Tiangong space station on May 30, 2023. Getty Images
Nasa selected four astronauts to fly around the Moon as part of its Artemis 2 mission, scheduled for 2025. Reuters

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”