The UAE will launch its latest high-tech satellite next month in partnership with South Korea, marking another significant step forward for the country's growing space sector.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai and Deputy Prime Minister, said the development of Etihad-Sat highlighted the nation's soaring ambitions in space exploration.
He said the advanced synthetic aperture radar (SAR) features cutting-edge imaging technology, enabling it to provide high-precision observation in all weather.
Etihad-Sat was built through a partnership between the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC)and South Korea’s Satrec Initiative, a satellite manufacturing company headquartered in the city of Daejeon.
It is scheduled to launch in the first week of March, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the MBRSC said.
"Our ambitions in the space sector know no bounds, and we firmly believe in the capabilities of our youth to strengthen the UAE’s global leadership in space exploration and help shape a brighter future for humanity, powered by knowledge and innovation," Sheikh Hamdan posted on social media platform X.
The MBRSC said Etihad-Sat represented a "significant milestone" in its satellite development programme, being its first such craft to be equipped with SAR imaging technology.
Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, chairman of MBRSC, said the development of the satellite was testament to the country's commitment to the space sector.
"Adding a SAR satellite to our fleet expands our ability to provide solutions that support our journey towards a knowledge and innovation-based economy," he said.
Salem Al Marri, director general of MBRSC, said the upcoming launch was "the result of our collaboration with Satrec Initiative as part of a knowledge-transfer programme".
Work on the satellite began two years ago as part of a knowledge transfer programme in collaboration with Satrec Initiative.
The satellite offers three imaging modes: spot mode (high-resolution imaging for small areas), scan mode (wide-area coverage for large regions) and strip mode (extended observation for longer regions).
Reaching for the stars
In January, the UAE's MBZ-Sat, the region’s most advanced Earth-observation satellite, blasted off into space. The 750kg satellite was launched into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, engineered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
MBZ-Sat, named in honour of President Sheikh Mohamed, was in development by Emirati engineers at MBRSC since 2020, with most of the satellite parts made by private companies.
Amar Vora, head of space at Serco Middle East, a company that provides services and consultancy to the public and private sector, previously told The National that the satellite would provide the highest resolution imagery in the region. Its capabilities exceed those of its predecessor, KhalifaSat.
Meanwhile, the country's Hope probe completed four years in orbit around Mars this month and is continuing to deliver crucial scientific data that is helping researchers to better understand the Red Planet’s atmosphere, weather and potential signs of past life.
On February 9, 2021, the country became the first Arab nation and the fifth worldwide to enter the planet’s orbit with a car-sized spacecraft.
Since then, researchers around the world have been using the probe's data to fill the gaps in understanding Mars’s climate history, atmospheric dynamics and the presence of bio-signature gases that could indicate whether the planet once hosted life.
The mission has also provided unprecedented insights into Martian auroras, weather patterns and one of the planet’s two moons, Deimos.
As You Were
Liam Gallagher
(Warner Bros)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
Abandon
Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
Translated by Arunava Sinha
Tilted Axis Press
Ready Player One
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
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Scores
Wales 74-24 Tonga
England 35-15 Japan
Italy 7-26 Australia
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20Z%20FOLD%204
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
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
Jurassic%20Park
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More from Aya Iskandarani
Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
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The%20specs
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UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
The years Ramadan fell in May