Scientists in Abu Dhabi develop 'moon dust' made of UAE rocks to boost lunar ambitions
A team of Abu Dhabi scientists has developed artificial moon dust, derived from the UAE's natural resources, to help lay the groundwork for the nation's quest to land Emirati astronauts on the lunar surface. Researchers at the New York University Abu Dhabi Space Exploration Laboratory said the substance – called Emirates Lunar Simulant – will allow scientists to test space instruments and equipment to ensure their readiness for the country's future missions to the Moon. The researchers, led by Dr Dimitra Atri, an astrophysicist at NYUAD, created the soil simulant from anorthosite-rich rocks found in the UAE. These rocks closely resemble the mineral and chemical composition of Moon samples, making them ideal for testing. The work will boost the UAE's growing space exploration aspirations. Last month, Salem Al Marri, director general of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, set out the UAE's goal to put an Emirati astronaut on the Moon within 10 years. 'By leveraging local geological resources to advance planetary science, this project strengthens the UAE's role in space exploration and contributes to global efforts to prepare for future lunar missions,' said Dr Atri, principal investigator at the Space Exploration Laboratory. He is part of the scientific team behind several UAE-led missions, including the Hope probe orbiting Mars, the Moon exploration programme and the space flight to an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. 'The Emirates Lunar Simulant will be instrumental in testing rover performance, training astronauts and validating lunar equipment, helping optimise missions and reduce risk for future lunar exploration.' As transporting large amounts of Moon soil to Earth is impractical, such soil simulants are essential for preparing for lunar exploration. The Abu Dhabi team, which featured researcher Vigneshwaran Krishnamoorthi and undergraduate students from NYUAD, is using the simulant to assess instruments for key mission operations, including landings, surface exploration, construction and resource extraction. The anorthosite-rich rocks were sourced from the Semail Ophiolite Complex, an ancient geological formation in the UAE that contains a well-preserved section of Earth's lithosphere, or outer crust. The researchers also explored the substance's potential for use in lunar agriculture and the growing of food on the Moon, to support long-term efforts to build a human presence in space. Bright minds at NYUAD are playing a leading role in the UAE's booming space sector. The National revealed this month how the university had established a new planetary simulation chamber that could transform how scientists in the Emirates conduct space research, allowing them to recreate extreme planetary environments. Researchers will be able to replicate the surface conditions of the Moon, Mars, asteroids and the Martian atmosphere by adjusting the gas composition, pressure and temperature inside the controlled chamber. The chamber also has an optical system capable of recreating solar conditions across different regions of the solar system. Researchers will be able to expose samples to intense ultraviolet radiation, mimicking the effects of prolonged space exposure. The Emirates has made major strides in the global space race in recent years. Hazza Al Mansouri made history in September 2019 as the first Emirati to venture into space then Sultan Al Neyadi was chosen in March 2023 to be the first Arab astronaut to carry out a long-duration journey in space. The UAE signed up with Nasa to contribute a key component of the US-led Gateway, a Moon-orbiting station, in exchange for sending an Emirati to the station. That agreement, however, only guarantees the country access to the station and a separate deal would have to be made for landing an Emirati on the lunar surface. SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing landing vehicles to carry humans to the surface from the Gateway station.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
an hour ago
- The National
Most corals in the Arabian Gulf could be lost this century to climate change, study suggests
Most corals in the Arabian Gulf could be wiped out this century because of the continued warming of the seas, a new global analysis has indicated. According to the research, coral cover in the Gulf between 2090 and 2099 is expected to be between 75 and 100 per cent less than it was between 2010 and 2019. While the forecasts vary according to future greenhouse gas emission levels, the study calculates that under a 'middle-of-the-road' scenario, coral cover globally will decline by about 58 per cent by the end of the century. The study also found that corals in the hottest parts of the world will not be able to expand fast enough into cooler areas to cope with the damage they will experience from the warming of the oceans. Writing in Science Advances, the scientists said that 'the most severe declines in coral cover will likely occur within 40 to 80 years', but that large-scale expansion of coral reefs into cooler waters to compensate for this 'requires centuries'. Some regions, such as the southern coast of Australia, are forecast to see increases in coral cover, but most will see a decline, with the Arabian Gulf among the hardest hit. The study's first author, Dr Noam Vogt-Vincent, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told The National that it was 'well-established that coral reefs are facing a precipitous decline over the coming decades' and this is being observed in multiple 'bleaching' events, where high temperatures make coral expel algae that live inside them. Corals face growing threat 'As the ocean warms, conditions suitable for reef formation will shift away from the tropics,' he added. 'It was previously thought that parts of the subtropics and temperate seas might be able to act as 'refugia' for tropical coral species, possibly allowing them to avoid extinction as they experience catastrophic losses in the tropics. 'Our study suggests that, although coral range expansion will eventually occur, it will probably take centuries, which is far too slow for these new higher latitude environments to act as refugia, given that they're already threatened.' He said that the problem was not that coral larvae could not reach new environments, but that their growth in numbers was too small for them to develop into larger populations that could sustain themselves. While the study forecasts that most coral in the Arabian Gulf will be lost this century, Dr Vogt-Vincent said caution should be exercised when interpreting the finding, partly because the model looks at global-scale changes and as the area has extremely high temperatures, the corals are not typical of the Indo-Pacific region. The new study, Anthropogenic climate change will likely outpace coral range expansion, is also written by scientists from the University of New Hampshire in the US and Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. The Arabian Gulf is 'very likely to continue warming as a result of climate change', said Dr Diana Francis, an assistant professor and head of the environmental and geophysical sciences lab at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi. 'Recent studies have shown that the Gulf has warmed by approximately 1.0 to 1.5 °C over the past 40 to 50 years,' she said. She said that the rate of warming in the Arabian Gulf was faster than the global average because it was shallow, semi-enclosed and received much sunlight. As well as making seas warmer, climate change is also causing them to rise, through expansion of the water and the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. Prof John Burt of New York University Abu Dhabi, who was not involved in the latest study, but who researches corals around the UAE, said that the more that range expansion of corals was studied, the more it became apparent that 'these were this was 'not sufficient to keep pace with the impacts of climate change in the tropics'. He said that only a limited range of coral species, typically more 'generalist' types adapted to a wider range of environments, could make the leap to new environments. 'We are not replacing the diversity or functioning of these amazing tropical ecosystems through range expansion,' he said. 'The present paper adds a further nail in the coffin for this line of thought by showing the rates of expansion are only a fraction of what is needed just to replace the total amount of live coral that will be lost on tropical reefs under climate change, not even considering species diversity.' He said that while Arabian Gulf corals were the most heat-tolerant in the world, they 'are not immune to climate change'. 'Recent marine heatwaves and global-scale bleaching events have caused the loss of over 80 per cent of corals from many regional reefs in the past decade alone,' he said. Taking action Efforts are being made to protect corals, with Abu Dhabi having recently revealed plans to plant millions of coral colonies across more than 900 hectares. The initiative is led by the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, which said its efforts had seen it restore more than one million colonies. Dr Burt and his colleagues are looking at selective breeding to produce heat-tolerant coral larvae, an approach that could lead to the production, he said, of millions of offspring better able to cope with higher temperatures. 'However, unless we get CO2 emissions under control, the long-term vulnerability of even these robust individuals in the wild remains an open question,' he said. Researchers say that reducing other factors that stress corals, such as pollution and overfishing, can have a positive effect on reefs, but Dr Vogt-Vincent said that such measures alone were not enough to protect these ecosystems.
The National
10 hours ago
- The National
Best photos of June 6: From D-Day landings anniversary to Eid Al Adha
What is THAAD? It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system. Production: It was created in 2008. Speed: THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic. Abilities: THAAD is designed to take out ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase". Purpose: To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres. Range: THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface. Creators: Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar. UAE and THAAD: In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
Khaleej Times
a day ago
- Khaleej Times
From PCOS to chronic pain, can emotional healing transform women's health?
The womb, in ancient cultures has been revered as a sacred centre of creation. It is in a mother's womb that the seeds of entire humanity are first planted. But for the woman herself, the womb is more than a reproductive organ, it is also her emotional centre, balancing her hormones, nurturing her identity and fuelling her power. So, listen to the messages of your womb, says Sarmistha Mitra, Dubai-based psychologist and wellness expert. Womb healing, she reveals, can have a deep transformative effect on a woman's health. In her recently released book Whispers of the Womb, she offers a holistic approach to address the mind-body connection behind gynaecological conditions such as PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, menstrual pain and infertility. The book was born out of her lived-in experience as a woman and a therapist. For years Mitra had watched her aunt live through the silent pain of infertility and her cousin endure years of exhausting IVF cycles, leaving her body emotionally and physically depleted. 'Even the first client who walked through my door was a woman navigating the emotional roller coaster of IVF. During the therapy sessions, we began uncovering her deeply buried beliefs, her feelings of not being enough, generational shame, ancestral grief that even she was unaware of holding on to for years,' says Mitra, who is also the founder of The Wellbeing Sanctuary, Dubai, a holistic health centre. As the client healed, something incredible happened — she conceived naturally soon after. 'That moment stirred something in me. I realised our wombs are not just physical organs, they are emotional archives. The womb is where life begins and also where unhealed pain hides. It carries the emotional residue of generations, stories we have inherited, shame we have absorbed and parts of ourselves we have forgotten,' she adds. Womb healing, is a process of reclaiming this sacred space from pain, trauma and suppression. Combining years of research based on personal and professional experience, Mitra chose to write, Whispers of the Womb, to explore the sacred feminine, ancestral healing and subconscious reprogramming to help women reclaim their feminine power. Through her writing she urges women to embrace their inner wisdom, sensuality and creativity to restore their physical and mental wellbeing through acceptance and practical everyday healing rituals. Generational trauma, a lesser explored factor, is an integral part of Mitra's book. She writes that just as physical traits are passed down from one generation to the other so are emotional experiences and societal conditioning. 'Ancestral trauma especially around gender roles, sexuality and oppression are inherited not just through stories but also through biology. Science calls it epigenetics. Our grandmother's grief, our mother's shame, their unspoken sacrifices live in our bodies, especially in our wombs,' points out Mitra. Through her work as a psychologist she has encountered a rising number of women struggling with womb-related disorders including fibroids, PCOS, endometriosis and early menopause. The more she listened to their stories, the more she realised that they were not just medical conditions but messages. 'I asked myself 'what if that what we are so desperate to fix, is actually trying to protect us.' That idea blew my mind and I began to see that these disorders were not random. The body, in its wisdom, was shielding us from perceived threats encoded over generations through angst, suppression and disconnection from our true nature. Imbalance, pain and disorders, are not flaws, they are reminders and signals.' The modern woman is often suppressing her feminine energy. While navigating her way through a highly competitive world, she often overcompensates by taking on masculine traits. Mitra calls it the masculine overdrive. She describes how many women are constantly pushing, proving, achieving and performing. 'The truth is that women today are exhausted because they are stuck in a constant tug of war between who they were programmed to be and who the world expects them to become. They were told to be caregivers, be selfless, quiet, accommodating, but today they are also called to be leaders, decision makers, breadwinners while still being expected to maintain emotional grace, beauty and balance.' The internal conflict between their outdated subconscious roles and the modern external demands, is not just stressful but it also dysregulates the nervous system showing up as anxiety, hormonal imbalance, burnout, thyroid issues, fertility struggles and emotional fatigue. 'A woman does not need to choose between her ambition and softness. She just needs to feel safe enough to be who she is.' Turning inwards through stillness and reflection, feeling instead of clamping down on emotions, and beginning a conscious dialogue with the womb are some of the ways, the author suggests that women can heal themselves. She retells the instance of one of her clients who was diagnosed with PCOS and was struggling with irregular menstrual cycles. During the counselling sessions, Mitra was able to help her client unburden her beliefs around self-worth and release her suppressed emotions. 'Over time her menstrual cycle was naturally regulated and her hormone levels became balanced,' shares Mitra. 'What changed was not her body but her relationship with herself.' Readers will discover several daily rituals in the book that can be practised including womb breathing, pelvic bowl journaling, warm castor oil compress, dancing or hip circles and mirror work. The author's own journey of healing and transformation began over a decade ago. As a stay-at-home mum, Mitra's world collapsed when her only son went abroad for college education. Her empty nest triggered a deep emotional upheaval. Eventually, she healed her pain by training to be a wellness practitioner, learning transpersonal psychology, clinical hypnotherapy and several other therapeutic modalities. A firm advocate of building one's mental muscles, she has designed the DecodeYou therapy, a KHDA accredited course, to help people recalibrate their subconscious mind. 'As a stay-at-home-mum, I was outwardly fulfilled but inwardly unravelled,' she adds. 'My healing was not just about learning psychology, it was about rewiring the nervous system. In doing so I was able to become the woman, my younger self needed. The woman who finally birthed the truth and now teaches others to do the same because when we heal our womb physically, emotionally and spiritually it not just bears life, it also gives your life back to you.'
