The UAE is to send a rover to regions of Moon unexplored by humans, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said.
As part of the Emirates Lunar Mission, the robotic explorer will send back nearly 1,000 images and collect data on lunar soil and dust. It will be built in the UAE by Emirati engineers.
On Saturday, The National reported that the UAE had plans to launch the first Arab mission to the Moon.
"With the grace of God, we have launched a new Emirati project to explore the Moon,” Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, tweeted on Tuesday.
“It will be an Emirati-made lunar explorer that will land on the surface of the Moon in 2024 in areas not reached by previous human exploration missions.
“We named the lunar explorer Rashid in honour of and a tribute to the founder of Dubai’s renaissance who has taught us how our dreams can be big, far and beyond.”
“The explorer will, for the first time, send new lunar data and images which will be shared with all local and international research centres.”
The Rashid rover will have four cameras that move horizontally and vertically, 3D cameras and microscope and thermal imaging cameras.
Its sensors and systems will enable it to analyse characteristics of soil, dust, radioactivity, electrical charges and rocks on the Moon's surface.
Engineers plan to build a robust structure so the lander's devices and engines are protected.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre will be developing the lander. Its engineering model will be finalised by 2021, followed by manufacturing in 2022, the testing phase in 2023 and with a launch planned for 2024.
The south pole of the Moon has been of particular interest to space agencies because of evidence of ice deposits, and now countries like the US want use the surface as a base for deep space exploration. UAE is yet to announce which region it will be visiting.
"It is expected that the explorer will send at least 1,000 images -- that includes pictures of the landing site on the surface of the Moon, the first surface images, night pictures of the earth, thermal images, in addition to sending navigation data, which includes flight time and surface terrain data on the surface of the moon," said Adnan Al Rais, the director of the Mars 2117 programme - a mission that aims to establish an entire city on the Red Planet by the year 2117.
"The Emirates Lunar Mission is a pivotal step that paves the way to the Mars 2117 strategy. The project will provide answers and information that define the course of our mission."
Moon mission puts UAE among elite group
The United States and China have previously landed rovers on the Moon. The Soviet Luna programme in the 1960s and 1970s also put landers on the Moon.
India launched its Chandryaan-2 mission to the Moon in 2019, with the Vikram lunar lander on board. However, the mission failed because of a last-minute glitch and the lander crashed on the surface.
Japan aims to send its first lunar lander next year.
International collaboration in missions to the Moon is now being made possible through US’ Artemis programme.
US space agency Nasa aims to send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, eventually establishing a base called Lunar Gateway on the surface. The agency has been encouraging foreign government and private company investments.
Artemis is part of a larger Moon to Mars programme, where astronauts would use the Moon as their base and travel to the Red Planet.
It is not yet confirmed if the UAE has invested in the programme or how it plans to launch the Rashid lander. So far, Italy, Japan and Australia have invested in Artemis.
Another leap forward for UAE's space sector
The UAE’s lunar project announcement came two months after it launched the Arab world’s first mission to Mars. The Hope probe is expected to arrive there in February.
As part of a 10-year strategy for the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, the UAE will build a satellite development facility and research and development centres to boost the country’s capabilities in outer space.
The Emirates also plans to announce the next Emirati space mission soon. In September of 2019, Maj Hazza Al Mansouri became the first UAE citizen in space.
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Young women have more “financial grit”, but fall behind on investing
In an October survey of young adults aged 16 to 25, Charles Schwab found young women are more driven to reach financial independence than young men (67 per cent versus. 58 per cent). They are more likely to take on extra work to make ends meet and see more value than men in creating a plan to achieve their financial goals. Yet, despite all these good ‘first’ measures, they are investing and saving less than young men – falling early into the financial gender gap.
While the women surveyed report spending 36 per cent less than men, they have far less savings than men ($1,267 versus $2,000) – a nearly 60 per cent difference.
In addition, twice as many young men as women say they would invest spare cash, and almost twice as many young men as women report having investment accounts (though most young adults do not invest at all).
“Despite their good intentions, young women start to fall behind their male counterparts in savings and investing early on in life,” said Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, senior vice president, Charles Schwab. “They start off showing a strong financial planning mindset, but there is still room for further education when it comes to managing their day-to-day finances.”
Ms Schwab-Pomerantz says parents should be conveying the same messages to boys and girls about money, but should tailor those conversations based on the individual and gender.
"Our study shows that while boys are spending more than girls, they also are saving more. Have open and honest conversations with your daughters about the wage and savings gap," she said. "Teach kids about the importance of investing – especially girls, who as we see in this study, aren’t investing as much. Part of being financially prepared is learning to make the most of your money, and that means investing early and consistently."
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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.”
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