Two world-renowned scientists have described colonising Mars to escape the climate change problem on Earth as "unrealistic".
British astrophysicist Martin Rees and American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson spoke on Wednesday during the second day of the World Government Summit, hosted by Dubai.
The duo disagreed with SpaceX founder Elon Musk and late physicist Stephen Hawking’s idea of using Mars as a backup planet.
Mr Musk is working towards sending a million people to Mars by 2050 using his Starship fleets. He hopes to send the first un-crewed cargo flight to the planet within this decade.
Dealing with climate change on Earth is a doddle compared to making Mars habitable
“Mars is a very hostile environment,” Mr Rees said. “What I certainly don’t buy is an idea espoused by Elon Musk and by my late colleague, Stephen Hawking, that we should expect that literally millions of people will go and settle on Mars as a way of escaping Earth problems.
“I think that's a dangerous delusion because dealing with climate change on Earth is a doddle compared to making Mars habitable.”
He said living on Mars is “no better than living at the South Pole, the ocean bed or on top of Everest”.
However, Mr Rees said he did believe that humans could be living on space stations in future.
The mysterious Red Planet
It is believed Mars was once very similar to Earth, but now it has a very thin atmosphere mostly made up of carbon dioxide, and is uninhabitable. Spacesuits and special habitats would be required.
Mr Tyson said terraforming Mars – changing the atmosphere enough to support life – would be needed to call the planet home, but it would be a huge task.
“If you want to do that [terraform Mars] to escape climate change and problems here on Earth, consider that whatever it takes to turn Mars into Earth, that's probably a bigger task than to turn Earth back into Earth.
“Both of us align in disagreement with Elon Musk and with the late Stephen Hawking on that.”
Climate change on Earth is caused by deforestation and fossil fuels releasing harmful gases into the atmosphere. This causes average temperatures to increase, the polar icecaps to melt and sea levels to rise. Another cause for concern is an increase in extreme weather patterns.
In 2017, the UAE also announced plan to build a human settlement on Mars by 2117.
However, space officials later said the main goal of the project was to help guarantee jobs in Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) for the next 100 years.
Mr Rees also addressed space tourism, saying “it would never be safe” and should be called "space adventure" instead.
Several private firms are working on making space tourism flights possible, including SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has signed on for the world’s first lunar tourism flight and will take eight civilians with him for free.
Plans for a space hotel and a commercial space station had also been announced.
“To go into space, there's never going to be a routine,” Mr Rees said.
“If this is done, I think it should be done by private players – then they're going to do it cheaper than Nasa or the European Space Agency, and they'll be taking the risk.
“If I was an American, I wouldn't support the manned space programme. It’s expensive because they have got to be so safe. They should leave it to people who are prepared for adventure and take risks.”
Mr Tyson, however, said space tourism could become safe one day, in a similar way to how aviation evolved.
“It's not hard for me to imagine the day when space adventure becomes so safe that you bring grandma and the kids, and no one is worried that you'll never come back,” he said.
Manchester United v Liverpool
Premier League, kick off 7.30pm (UAE)
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Emirates Cricket Board Women’s T10
ECB Hawks v ECB Falcons
Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
Hawks
Coach: Chaitrali Kalgutkar
Squad: Chaya Mughal (captain), Archara Supriya, Chamani Senevirathne, Chathurika Anand, Geethika Jyothis, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kashish Loungani, Khushi Sharma, Khushi Tanwar, Rinitha Rajith, Siddhi Pagarani, Siya Gokhale, Subha Srinivasan, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish
Falcons
Coach: Najeeb Amar
Squad: Kavisha Kumari (captain), Almaseera Jahangir, Annika Shivpuri, Archisha Mukherjee, Judit Cleetus, Ishani Senavirathne, Lavanya Keny, Mahika Gaur, Malavika Unnithan, Rishitha Rajith, Rithika Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Shashini Kaluarachchi, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Vaishnave Mahesh
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
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.”
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