A Japanese spacecraft carrying the UAE's Rashid rover will attempt to land on the Moon's surface on April 25.
It is scheduled to touch down at 8.40pm, UAE time.
Ispace, the company that has built the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, announced the target date on Wednesday, with backup dates of April 26, May 1 and May 3.
The lander has travelled millions of kilometres since launching on December 11, carrying the UAE's first lunar rover and technologies from other countries stored safely inside it.
The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on March 21 and has since been gradually getting closer to the surface.
"At approximately 15:40 on April 25, 2023, (UTC), the lander is scheduled to begin the landing sequence from the 100km altitude orbit," ispace said.
The landing sequence will take about an hour. If successful, it will make ispace the first company to succeed in a commercial cargo mission to the Moon.
It will also make the UAE the first Arab country to have a rover on another celestial body.
A difficult feat to achieve
But Moon landings are no easy task. Spacecraft touching down on Earth or Mars, for example, can use parachutes to slow themselves down and land safely.
But because the Moon has no atmosphere, complex manoeuvres are required to reduce the speed of the lander to touch down softly on the surface.
Only the US, the former Soviet Union and China have achieved soft landings on the Moon.
Landers operated by India and Israel have crashed on the surface.
Ispace said that during Hakuto-R M1's landing sequence, it will perform a braking burn and fire its main propulsion system to decelerate from orbit.
It will use a series of preset commands to adjust its attitude (positioning in space) and reduce velocity to achieve a soft landing on the surface.
Big win for commercial lunar missions
If ispace does manage to achieve the feat, it will be the first time a private company has delivered cargo for customers to the Moon's surface.
This means government-run space agencies can focus more on lunar science and companies can take over the difficult part of lunar missions — the landings.
It also means that emerging space nations such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which do not have lunar landing capabilities, will get more access to the Moon.
"I am looking forward to witnessing this historic day, marking the beginning of a new era of commercial lunar missions," said Takeshi Hakamada, founder of ispace.
Other companies are also looking to achieve private lunar missions, including US-based company Astrobotic, which plans to launch its Peregrine lander later this year with payloads from eight countries.
Intuitive Machines, another American company, hopes to land its Nova-C lander later this year, as well.
And Texas-based Firefly Aerospace's robotic Blue Ghost lander is also being developed for a touch down.
UAE's first mission to the Moon
Once the Hakuto-R lands on the surface, Emirati engineers will measure the Rashid rover's health.
The lander will then deploy the rover and commands will be sent to it to drive-off on to the lunar surface.
It will then spend 14 days exploring and capturing data, including thousands of images.
Emirati scientists will study the properties of lunar soil, the petrography and geology of the Moon, dust movement, surface plasma conditions and the Moon's photoelectron sheath.
The team also hopes the rover can survive the lunar night, also 14 days, when temperatures plunge to minus 183°C.
The rover will be placed in hibernation mode when night approaches.
"The chances of the rover restarting are slim; however, if the rover is activated after the lunar night then the mission will be extended to operate throughout the second lunar night which will end by the decommissioning phase," the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre said.
Emirati engineers are already working on Rashid 2, the second rover under the country's long-term Moon exploration programme.
It was due to be launched on a Chinese lander, but it is unclear whether that it going ahead.
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
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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.”
