SpaceX has postponed the launch attempt of its Starship rocket due to a technical issue.
Starship was meant to blast off on an orbital test flight at 5pm GST from the Starbase facilities — SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.
But a pressurisation issue on the booster caused engineers to hold off on the launch attempt. A back-up opportunity is available after 24 and 48 hours.
“A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today,” Elon Musk tweeted.
SpaceX will instead hold a wet dress rehearsal of the rocket system, which is a practice run of the launch, without the rocket actually taking off.
Mr Musk has been trying to develop the rocket for several years in hopes that it would eventually send humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
SpaceX received a launch licence from the US Federal Aviation Administration over the weekend, a crucial step towards making the test flight possible.
What is Starship?
Starship is a two-stage rocket system that includes a booster and a Starship spacecraft.
The rocket has completed high-altitude tests, but it is yet to perform an orbital flight.
It is the most powerful launch vehicle developed and will be able to produce 3,991 tonnes of thrust, 15 per cent more than Nasa’s Apollo Moon rocket Saturn V.
SpaceX is contracted by Nasa to develop the Starship Human Landing System, which would help astronauts land on the Moon under the US space agency’s Artemis programme.
But Mr Musk's ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary.
What will happen during the test flight?
The test flight is to help SpaceX measure whether the rocket can launch into orbit safely.
The rocket will launch from Starbase and the booster will separate from the spacecraft about 170 seconds into the flight.
The booster will then perform a partial return and land in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 32km from the shore.
The orbital Starship will continue flying between the Florida Straits.
It will achieve orbit before performing a powered, targeted, soft-ocean landing about 100km off the north-west coast of Kauai, a Hawaiian island.
SpaceX said weather looks “pretty good” during the launch, but they are keeping an eye out for wind shear.
There are backup launch opportunities on April 18 and 19.
Mr Musk’s plan to make life multi-planetary
Mr Musk’s long-term goal is to make life multi-planetary.
He is working towards sending a million people to Mars by 2050 using his Starship fleets.
He hopes to send the first uncrewed cargo flight to the planet this decade.
But his plans are often criticised by experts in the science community, because Mars has a notoriously hostile environment.
Mr Musk has already sold seats on the Starship, including to Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who plans on flying on the first crewed flight to the Moon, taking eight artists with him as part of his dearMoon programme.
American billionaire Jared Isaacman is also working with SpaceX through his Polaris programme, a series of privately-led space missions.
Mr Isaacman will serve as commander on the Polaris III mission — the first crewed flight on the Starship rocket.
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
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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.”
