Fifty years after its last mission to the Moon, Nasa is returning to the lunar surface, this time with a handful of international companies as well as an artwork.
An engraved plate of aerospace-grade aluminium gold, the artwork is called We Rise Together — with the Light of the Moon and was created by British artist Sacha Jafri. The heart-shaped piece was unveiled on Wednesday during a press conference at the US Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.
“This plate will last for ever,” Jafri said during the unveiling. “It is a heart motif with two figures entwined in love. It represents the reconnection of humanity. It tries to evoke that feeling of getting away from the nonsense or the discrimination, the hate, the intolerance. Everything that we’ve had to go through as a humanity. Now is the time for change. I hope this artwork represents that.”
Jafri’s artwork will be placed on the Moon with the help of Selenian, a UAE company that specialises in the curation of art in space, as well as Spacebit, Astrobotic and Nasa through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
Pavlo Tanasyuk, founder of Spacebit, said the plate was designed with the same materials as the Moon lander and is inlaid with gold to help it withstand conditions on the lunar surface.
“It’s a different environment, there is no atmosphere,” he said. “You're exposed to radiation, to extreme temperatures, so you really have to use space-grade technology to make the artwork survive for thousands of years. I believe what we have created is an ultimate piece of engineering and art combined together.”
Tanasyuk noted there were numerous iterations of the artwork before Jafri and the team decided on the final one.
“After we deliver the art piece to the Moon, it will stay there for ever,” he said, and added that the landing site will become a heritage landmark.
“So, in the future, when someone travels to the Moon and gets to the site, they will be able to see the slate,” Tanasyuk said. “It could be in 30 years or 10. It depends on how fast we get to the Moon.”
The exact date of the mission to the Moon was not divulged, but Tanasyuk and Jafri said it was scheduled for the second half of 2022.
In addition to We Rise Together — with the Light of the Moon, five charitable NFTs from Jafri will also be launched to commemorate each stage of the mission: the rocket entering the stratosphere, the circumnavigation of the Earth, the Moon slingshot, the landing and the legacy of the artwork on the Moon.
Jafri said details of the NFT series will be revealed in the future and that they intend to raise funds for charity. However, details on how much money he hopes to raise and which charity organisations would receive the funds were not clarified.
The contemporary artist most recently pulled off one of the art world's greatest feats with the sale of his record-breaking canvas The Journey of Humanity, which was sold for $62 million. The funds were split between Dubai Cares, Unicef, Unesco and Global Gift Foundation.
“We will be focusing on getting the money to the right places in the right areas,” he said. “We will focus on the four main pillars that I see as the main four charitable concerns of our world in the areas of education, health, sustainability and equality for all. If we focus on those four pillars, we can change our world.”
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
MATCH INFO
Manchester United v Everton
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester
When: Sunday, kick-off 7pm (UAE)
How to watch: Live on BeIN Sports 11HD
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GROUPS
Group Gustavo Kuerten
Novak Djokovic (x1)
Alexander Zverev (x3)
Marin Cilic (x5)
John Isner (x8)
Group Lleyton Hewitt
Roger Federer (x2)
Kevin Anderson (x4)
Dominic Thiem (x6)
Kei Nishikori (x7)
Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The biog
Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Doctorate degree in forensic medicine at the University of Bonn
Hobbies: Drawing and reading books about graphic design
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Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
THE BIO:
Favourite holiday destination: Thailand. I go every year and I’m obsessed with the fitness camps there.
Favourite book: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. It’s an amazing story about barefoot running.
Favourite film: A League of their Own. I used to love watching it in my granny’s house when I was seven.
Personal motto: Believe it and you can achieve it.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
The biog
Family: Parents and four sisters
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management and marketing at American University of Sharjah
A self-confessed foodie, she enjoys trying out new cuisines, her current favourite is the poke superfood bowls
Likes reading: autobiographies and fiction
Favourite holiday destination: Italy
Posts information about challenges, events, runs in other emirates on the group's Instagram account @Anagowrunning
Has created a database of Emirati and GCC sportspeople on Instagram @abeermk, highlight: Athletes
Apart from training, also talks to women about nutrition, healthy lifestyle, diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure
