A space rover on a mission to find habitable places for humans on the Moon will undergo few final tests in the Abu Dhabi desert next spring.
The Spider Moon Rover will undergo about a week of testing in the UAE capital, where the large swings in temperature from the day's heat to the relative cool at night, as well as the top surface layer of fine-grain sand, will get as close to mimicking the Moon's environment as possible for research.
Spacebit, the London company behind the rover, announced at the Dubai Airshow on Monday that the world's smallest moon explorer is scheduled to carry out test runs in the UAE, ahead of its launch to the moon in 2021.
Humans need a tremendous amount of shielding to be safe on the Moon, otherwise they'll get cancer. By going below the surface you have the natural shielding
While the exact site location has not been revealed, Spacebit said the mountains of Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain could be another ideal spot as the area’s "caves and underground ravines" are close in structure to the lava tubes beneath the Moon's surface.
These tunnels on the Moon, first discovered by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in 2017, are believed to extend many kilometres and are very wide and tall. These characteristics make the tunnels the most suitable potential places for humans to live on the Moon, according to Spacebit.
"Humans need a tremendous amount of shielding to be safe on the Moon, otherwise they'll get cancer. By going below the surface you have the natural shielding, a more benign temperature environment and a safe radiation environment," chief business development officer Charles Lauer told The National.
"We know where the [lava tube] holes are but no one has ever been in there."
The rover, the first of its kind to have legs instead of wheels, mimics the motions of a spider – with four legs instead of eight. Spiders are comfortable in caves, and it is expected that Spacebit's arachnid-inspired rovers will have more success than the rovers on wheels which have been exploring on the Moon.
"It'll be in its natural environment," said Spacebit founder Pavlo Tanasyuk.
While a lunar landing is Earth's closest extraterrestrial destination, Moon missions are still extremely difficult. Already this year, India and Israel have had failed rover missions. If the UK company succeeds, it will join China, Russia and the US in successfully landing a rover on the Moon.
Spacebit is a privately funded company. Mr Tanasyuk had sold a payment technology company in 2015 for an undisclosed sum, allowing him to become, he said, "a little like Elon Musk for Europe".
Exploring space was a childhood dream for him.
Mr Tanasyuk's company aims to send a lunar lander, developed with Ukraine's Yuzhnoye and dubbed the Lunar Lander-Hopper, to the Moon in the next two to three years.
What sets the Spacebit Lunar Lander-Hopper apart from other designs is that it can take off and land on another part of the Moon multiple times, rather than stay grounded where it lands, allowing for wider surface exploration. It can carry up to eight of Spacebit's spider rovers.
The multi-destination lunar lander will be designed to deliver 150 kilograms or more of payload - research equipment - to one landing point or 50kg or more of payload to up to three remote landing points on the lunar surface, with a distance of up to 20km, according to Spacebit.
Each kilogram of equipment - such as a satellite or camera - will cost Spacebit customers as much as $1 million (Dh3.67m) to load onto the lunar lander.
Spacebit is displaying its technology at the Dubai Airshow.
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
'Ghostbusters: From Beyond'
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
Bharatanatyam
A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Other IPL batting records
Most sixes: 292 – Chris Gayle
Most fours: 491 – Gautam Gambhir
Highest individual score: 175 not out – Chris Gayle (for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013)
Highest strike-rate: 177.29 – Andre Russell
Highest strike-rate in an innings: 422.22 – Chris Morris (for Delhi Daredevils against Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017)
Highest average: 52.16 – Vijay Shankar
Most centuries: 6 – Chris Gayle
Most fifties: 36 – Gautam Gambhir
Fastest hundred (balls faced): 30 – Chris Gayle (for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in 2013)
Fastest fifty (balls faced): 14 – Lokesh Rahul (for Kings XI Punjab against Delhi Daredevils in 2018)
Brief scores:
Day 2
England: 277 & 19-0
West Indies: 154
MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
WandaVision
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany
Directed by: Matt Shakman
Rating: Four stars
PROFILE BOX
Company name: Overwrite.ai
Founder: Ayman Alashkar
Started: Established in 2020
Based: Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai
Sector: PropTech
Initial investment: Self-funded by founder
Funding stage: Seed funding, in talks with angel investors
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
The specs
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbo four-cylinder
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
Torque: 420Nm
Price: Dh189,900
On sale: now
New Zealand squad
Tim Southee (capt), Trent Boult (games 4 and 5), Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson (games 1-3), Martin Guptill, Scott Kuggeleijn, Daryl Mitchell, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Spider-Man%202
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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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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RESULT
Bayern Munich 5 Eintrracht Frankfurt 2
Bayern: Goretzka (17'), Müller (41'), Lewandowski (46'), Davies (61'), Hinteregger (74' og)
Frankfurt: Hinteregger (52', 55')
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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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
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Jiu-Jitsu World Tour Calendar 2018/19
July 29: OTA Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan
Sep 22-23: LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, US
Nov 16-18: Carioca Arena Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Feb 7-9: Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mar 9-10: Copper Box Arena in London, UK
More on Quran memorisation:
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
RESULT
Wolves 1 (Traore 67')
Tottenham 2 (Moura 8', Vertonghen 90 1')
Man of the Match: Adama Traore (Wolves)
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Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
RECORD%20BREAKER
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