Sultan Al Neyadi to perform first spacewalk by an Arab astronaut
The UAE's Sultan Al Neyadi will become the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk on April 28.
It will be a giant leap forward for the country's growing space programme and for the region.
But it is a significant step he is well prepared to make.
Astronauts assigned to carry out spacewalks must first spend several hours in one of the world's largest indoor pools to get ready for the daunting task.
The 12-metre-deep pool is located in the Neutral Byouancy Laboratory at the Sonny Carter Training Facility in Houston, Texas.
Operational since 1995, it has served not only Americans, but those who have partnerships with Nasa, including astronauts from parts of Europe, Japan, Canada, and most recently from the UAE.
"The NBL serves as the perfect training centre for astronauts as they prepare for their space flight missions," Nasa said.
"Although astronauts do not achieve true weightlessness in the NBL, the simulations do provide each crew member with a solid spacewalking foundation which better prepares them for the extravehicular activities (EVAs) they will conduct in zero gravity."
Astronauts routinely venture outside of the International Space Station to carry out repair work and install or replace equipment on the exterior of the structure.
Why is it so deep?
The pool is 12.1m deep and holds 23.4 million litres of water to help simulate microgravity so astronauts can train.
Neutral buoyancy means the object has an equal tendency to float as it does to sink. To help achieve this in water, Nasa uses a combination of weights and flotation devices.
This helps astronauts-in-training spend up to seven hours beneath the water, where a mock-up of the ISS is placed.
They wear their 127kg-heavy EVA suits while training underwater.
While they do not feel the weight of the bulky suit in space, they do still feel some of it during their NBL training because they are not experiencing true weightlessness.
Getting into the spacesuit
But before they can go underwater, astronauts first have to complete the lengthy process of suiting up.
"Putting on a spacesuit takes 45 minutes, including the time it takes to put on the special undergarments that help keep astronauts cool," Nasa said.
"After putting on the spacesuit, to adapt to the lower pressure maintained in the suit, the astronaut must spend a little more than an hour breathing pure oxygen before going outside the pressurised module."
Spending seven hours underwater
The astronauts are then lowered into the pool using a special robotic lift.
They sometimes spend up to seven hours underwater, practising the tasks they will be doing during the real spacewalk.
Their suits are fitted with oxygen-enriched breathing gas, or nitrox, so they can carry out the long training sessions.
How do they keep the water clean?
Nasa said that the water within the NBL is recycled every 19.6 hours.
It is automatically monitored and controlled to a temperature of 27-31°C to prevent hypothermia.
It is also chemically treated to control contaminant growth, which also helps reduce long-term corrosion effect on training mock-ups and equipment.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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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.”
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
