India is ready to launch its ambitious third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, on Friday as it plans to send a rover to the surface of the Moon after its previous mission, Chandrayaan-2, crashed as it was landing.
Chandrayaan means Moon-vehicle or lunar spacecraft in Hindi.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) – the country’s national space agency – is to launch the 3,900kg spacecraft from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, an island in the Bay of Bengal.
The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III, the vehicle carrying the spacecraft Chandrayyan 3, will take off from the launch station at 2.35pm local time.
How important is the Chandrayaan-3 mission?
The success of the mission is viewed as a demonstration of India’s spacefaring ambitions. It will be the first spacecraft to land on the South Pole of the Moon, so far unexplored by human beings, in attempts to provide valuable scientific data on Earth.
Nasa says the mission will make numerous scientific measurements on the surface and from orbit.
The lunar mission is a follow-up to Chandrayaan-2, which was launched in September 2019 but crashed on the Moon’s surface when the soft-landing attempt failed because of issues with the onboard computer and propulsion system.
The mission is primarily a landing and roving mission, unlike the previous lunar mission which carried an orbiter.
The budget for the Chandrayaan-3 mission is 6.15 billion rupees (about $74 million).
The cost of the Chandrayaan-2 mission was about 8.5 billion rupees ($124 million) while the first mission, Chandrayaan-1, cost 5.41 billion rupees ($79 million).
What is the objective of Chandrayaan-3?
“Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous lander module, propulsion module, and a rover with an objective of developing and demonstrating new technologies required for interplanetary missions,” Isro said.
The main objective of Chandrayaan-3 is to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface as well as the capability to place a rover on the Moon to conduct scientific experiments.
This is India’s second mission to the Moon's South Pole. It launched Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which intentionally crashed into the lunar surface and led to the discovery of frozen water.
While Chandrayaan-2's aim was to explore the areas combining the exosphere – the very thin and tenuous atmosphere of the moon – Chandrayaan-1 and 3 were set to explore the South Pole.
Chandrayaan-3's components
The spacecraft is made up of a lander/rover and a propulsion module. The lander/rover will be similar to that used on Chandrayaan 2, with improvements to help ensure a safe landing.
It will be carried to lunar orbit by the propulsion module, which will remain in orbit around the Moon and act as a communications relay satellite.
The rover is expected to land on the Moon on either August 23 or 24, while Chandrayaan-3 will enter lunar orbit approximately a month after its launch.
The vehicle is made up of the following components.
Lander module: A space vehicle designed to land on the surface of the planet or moon. It has the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and activate the rover, which will carry out chemical analysis of the surface during the course of its mobility. It is box-shaped, with four landing legs and four landing thrusters of 800 newtons each.
Propulsion module: This unit carries the lander and rover from launch vehicle injection to the final 100km lunar orbit.
It includes a payload – an electronic subsystem or experiment board comprising sensors that monitor factors such as temperature, humidity and radiation levels (called spectro-polarimetry of habitable planet Earth) – to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.
Lander payloads: The lander will carry payloads such as Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment to measure thermal conductivity and temperature. It also has an instrument for lunar seismic activity, which measures the seismicity, or frequency of earthquakes, around the landing site.
The lander includes the Langmuir Probe, used to estimate the electron temperature and electron plasma density in the ionosphere – where Earth's atmosphere meets space.
Rover payloads: The rover is a device designed to explore planetary surfaces. The rover will carry loads such as an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and laser-induced breakdown spectroscope for establishing the elemental composition near the landing site.
Isro is using several advanced technologies in the lander, including altimeters, velocimeters and an accelerometer. There is also a navigation, guidance and control system, and a hazard detection and avoidance camera to ensure the safety of the vehicle when landing.
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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.”
Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
If you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Chicago from Dh5,215 return including taxes.
The hotels
Recommended hotels include the Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, located in an iconic skyscraper complete with a 1929 Olympic-size swimming pool from US$299 (Dh1,100) per night including taxes, and the Omni Chicago Hotel, an excellent value downtown address with elegant art deco furnishings and an excellent in-house restaurant. Rooms from US$239 (Dh877) per night including taxes.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
The%20specs
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