The average surface temperature of Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system, is around 471°C. It might be the second-nearest planet to earth, but almost everything about it is different. On Tuesday, however, Venus and the Earth were brought closer together, in our imaginations if not in space, when the UAE announced plans to send its next space mission to our planetary neighbour.
The mission, which will also include sending the same spacecraft to the asteroid belt, builds on the Emirates' reputation as a leading regional centre of astronomy, with one of the world's fastest-developing space programmes. Its work beyond Earth's atmosphere began in 1997, with the launch of a communications satellite, Thoraya. In 2019, it sent its first astronaut, Hazza Al Mansouri, to the International Space Station. In February, it became one of only five countries to send a spacecraft to Mars.
Today, it is demanding even more of its space community. Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, has said the Venus mission is "in the order of five times more complex than the Emirates Mars Mission”.
While the exact nature of the equipment and scientific objectives of the mission are yet to be fully announced, data gathered on the trip will change the field permanently. On the topic of Venus, big questions remain over the composition of its thick and inhospitable atmosphere, and why, given its proximity and size, it developed so differently to Earth. We are not yet certain about whether the planet once had an ocean.
And more knowledge on the nearby asteroid belt could have major consequences for life on Earth: most meteorites that hit our planet originate from the belt. If the UAE pulls off current plans to land on an asteroid, it would be only the fourth country to do so. Collecting samples for analysis could tell us more about how the earth and other planets were formed.
The mission is also being designed to change the UAE's space sector at home. It has been launched as part of the UAE's "Projects of the 50" programme — 50 projects to define the country as it celebrates the golden anniversary of its formation. The mission is accompanied by five new plans to boost Emirati participation in its space community, including one to get more UAE firms involved in the field, an apprenticeship scheme to encourage young Emiratis into jobs in component assembly and space subsystems engineering and plans to increase the participation of local and international universities and research centres.
Beyond these practical changes, astronomy captures the attention of the world, not just specialists, perhaps more than any other branch of science. The defining video of 20th-century scientific progress was Neil Armstrong's moonwalk, the first in history. Very few countries have the ambition and capacity to push science in such a spectacular, visible manner. If the UAE can be one, it will launch into the next 50 years as a leading centre of science and exploration.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
Profile
Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
