Researchers at a global research institute will be receiving an "alien message" from Mars on Wednesday.
The message is part of an experiment by the Seti Institute that will help human beings prepare for a possible future attempt at contact by extra-terrestrial life.
Trace Gas Orbiter, a European spacecraft orbiting Mars, will send an encoded message to experts at the institute, which they hope the public will be able to decode.
“Throughout history, humanity has searched for meaning in powerful and transformative phenomena," said Daniela de Paulis, the artist behind the "A Sign in Space" project.
“Receiving a message from an extra-terrestrial civilisation would be a profoundly transformational experience for all humankind.
“A Sign in Space offers the unprecedented opportunity to tangibly rehearse and prepare for this scenario through global collaboration, fostering an open-ended search for meaning across all cultures and disciplines.”
Three radio astronomy observatories on Earth will detect the encoded message.
These include the Seti Institute’s Allen Telescope Array, the Robert C Byrd Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory.
The specific content of the encoded message, developed by Ms de Paulis and her team, has not been disclosed, in the hope that the public can contribute to decoding and interpreting the message.
The orbiter will transmit the encoded message on Wednesday, May 24 at 11pm GST, and Earth will receive it 16 minutes later.
After transmission, researchers will process the signal and make it available to the public for decoding.
Submissions of findings, thoughts and artistic and scientific inputs may be made through the dedicated submission form on the project’s website.
Astronomers all over the world have for decades looked to the stars to find signs of extra-terrestrial life, but none have yet been found.
Many UFO (unidentified flying object) sightings get reported to US authorities.
In July 2022, the US government launched the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force after a spate of observations by military pilots of unknown aerial objects.
The objects exhibited speeds and manoeuvrability that seemingly defied the limits of known technology and the laws of physics.
There is also a team at Nasa dedicated to studying unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), which are also known as unidentified aerial phenomena.
"The limited number of high-quality observations of unidentified anomalous phenomena currently makes it impossible to draw scientific conclusions about the nature of such events," Nasa said on its website.
"Without access to an extensive set of data, it is nearly impossible to verify or explain any observation, thus the focus of the study is to inform Nasa what possible data could be collected in the future to shed light on UAP."
While no signs of alien intelligent life has yet been discovered, Nasa has sent rovers to Mars to look for signs of ancient life, such as water, which would show that the planet was once habitable.
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.”
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