A senior Nasa scientist has heralded the UAE's landmark Mars mission as a crucial step towards fulfilling long-held ambitions to inhabit the Red Planet.
Dr Lori Glaze, planetary science division director at the American space agency, said the findings of the Hope probe's exploration of Mars will be key to humans eventually setting foot on its surface.
The UAE's latest journey to space, which is due to launch at 12.43am (UAE time) on Friday from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan, is central to its wider project to form the first human settlement on Mars by 2117.
The senior scientist shared her confidence in the nation's space programme during an online meeting organised by the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
"I think we'll get there," said Dr Glaze of plans for humans to land on Mars.
"I would say that having multiple countries now [on Mars exploration] has increased our capability [globally] of going back and forth to Mars."
Dr Glaze, however, conceded there is a long journey ahead for the international community.
"It is very important that we take a methodical approach where we make sure we take each step at a time," she said.
Missions such as that being undertaken by the UAE will provide scientists with valuable data to enable a greater understanding of Mars and the challenges space agencies face in putting astronauts on the planet for the first time.
"We need to be able to land those heavy spacecraft on Mars and then we need to be able to launch it off of the surface of Mars. This has never been done before," Dr Glaze said.
"We need to be able to demonstrate in-orbit rendezvous at Mars ... that once we've launched from the surface to then rendezvous with another spacecraft and then be able to get out of orbit and come back to Earth.
"So, all of these things need to be demonstrated even before we send the first human to Mars.
"I think we need to have realistic expectation and take it one step at a time and keep moving to that next step and that next level of capability so that we can eventually realise that dream."
The Emirates Mars Mission will study the atmosphere on the planet, complementing work being carried out by counterparts in America.
"We [Nasa] are also taking information on how the atmosphere is lost to space. This is very important information for helping us to understand how the atmosphere of Mars has changed and evolved over time," Dr Glaze said.
"So I think that combining the information from Nasa’s Maven [Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution] mission and the UAE’s Hope probe will help further our understanding of how that atmosphere is currently being lost to space, but also provide us new insight into how it has changed over time, how it has been lost over time. So it will be a major contributor to that science question as well."
The Maven spacecraft reached the orbit around Mars in 2014 and is still studying the red planet’s upper atmosphere.
Dr Glaze will be joining two scientists from the UAE Space Agency at an online meeting to discuss the Hope probe launch. The event, hosted by the US Embassy in collaboration with Nasa and the UAE Space Agency, will take place on Tuesday at 4pm.
To register for the online event, visit this link.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
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Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
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In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
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