This newspaper’s Genes in Space contest, which is bringing together young minds from across the Emirates to contribute to the development of space exploration, marked a milestone on Sunday, when five teams, comprising eight pupils, were selected as finalists in the Genes in Space competition. They came from schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Dubai, chosen after entering a challenge to design DNA experiments that take advantage of the low-gravity environment in space and solve real-life space exploration problems.
These events are a very important component in our national space programme. They inspire a new generation of enthusiasts and at the same time highlight the young talent who can contribute to the development of our knowledge-based economy. Aspiring scientists deserve all the support that can be afforded them. It is through their curiosity that the hardest questions will be definitively answered.
The UAE has launched its National Space Policy knowing that the mission won’t be easy but rather requires years of effort and preparation. We have an ambitious plan to launch the Emirates Mars Mission in 2020, a mission which was described by Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s Ambassador to the United States, as “the Arab world’s version of president John Kennedy’s moon shot”. This brings to mind the US president’s famous speech to the American public in 1962 when he said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Space has the ability to intrigue and inspire young minds. Getting children to think about outer space is one way to capture their imagination and make them think of the endless possibilities that exist beyond our planet. Making those possibilities real is, currently, literally impossible: there are no scientists who know how to do it. But that’s why it is so important to fire up young minds and give them the intellectual tools to create that future. Answers will spring from the minds of youngsters, such as those finalists who were celebrated Sunday night in Abu Dhabi and with them our country, and our world, will progress.
