
UAE Eid Al Adha 2025 likely to fall on June 6 as per moon sighting predictions
The International Astronomical Centre (IAC) has announced that the crescent moon marking the beginning of Dhu al-Hijjah 1446 AH will be observed on Tuesday, May 27, across the Islamic world.
Engineer Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, Director of the Abu Dhabi-based centre, stated that the moon sighting will be possible with telescopes from parts of Central and Western Asia, as well as most of Africa and Europe.
He added that 'it may be visible to the naked eye in large areas of the Americas.'
Eid Al Adha 2025 expected to fall on Friday, June 6, says Astronomical Centre
Based on these astronomical predictions, Wednesday, May 28 is expected to be the first day of Dhu al-Hijjah.
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Zawya
3 days ago
- Zawya
The missed opportunity of not embracing geospatial science in trade area analysis
In the information-rich age we live in, answers to location-based questions have never been more available – and crucial – to a business's success. Yet, many of South Africa's franchises and retailers continue to rely on gut feel or high-level aggregated sales data to guide their decisions on where to open stores and how to optimise their networks. Unfortunately, this approach often leads to lost sales, costly real estate mistakes, and missed opportunities for growth, writes Rochelle Mountany, CEO of AfriGIS. The need for geospatial analysis in trade area decisions is clearer than ever. It's not just about where your next physical location should be – it's about understanding how each potential site fits into a broader network of customer behaviours, traffic patterns, and market dynamics. The problem is, many businesses still overlook geospatial science as a key component of their growth and development strategy. By failing to leverage this tool, they're missing a massive opportunity to optimise their operations and customer experience. Look no further than South Africa's shifting retail landscape. Dozens of stores across the country have recently closed. These closures often stem from a combination of factors, including safety issues and inconsistent municipal services. Frequent load shedding, poor road maintenance, and surging crime rates are making certain neighbourhoods unviable for stores that rely on stability and consistent customer flow. In addition to these environmental challenges, strategic missteps such as failing to correctly identify the customer segment a store is intended to serve have also contributed to closures. These misjudgements highlight the critical importance of understanding not just where customers are today, but where they will be in the future, and how their behaviours and preferences are shaped by their surroundings. Why geospatial analysis matters Trade area analysis is more than just about finding a good location for a new store. It applies to any service-based organisation, whether it's a retail chain, a fast food outlet, or a government department. In fact, public services like health clinics face similar challenges to retail networks when it comes to site planning. For instance, the South African government mandates that health clinics be located within a certain travel radius for underserved communities. Yet, often these clinics are located without any real data-backed understanding of future growth patterns, leading to inefficiencies and gaps in service. In retail, this issue manifests when businesses make location decisions based on outdated assumptions or once-off studies. Planning a store or service location based on static data means you're reacting to the current environment, not anticipating the market's evolution. This is where geospatial science offers real value – through predictive insights that allow businesses to not just react, but anticipate where future opportunities will emerge. The predictive power of geospatial science At the core of effective trade area analysis is the ability to model, forecast, and predict future trends. Without integrating geospatial data, businesses are essentially guessing about where future growth will occur. In the retail world, this means failing to plan for shifts in demographics, consumer behaviour, or commercial development in areas that may seem underserved today but will see population or income growth in the coming years. Geospatial science goes beyond static location analysis. It takes into account factors like local property trends, housing development, consumer behaviour, and competitor movements to create dynamic, adaptable models. By overlaying these data points on a map, businesses can identify high-potential locations that align with their strategic goals. This predictive ability can make the difference between opening a store in a saturated area or identifying an emerging market that could yield higher returns over time. A systematic, live system for smarter decision-making The problem with traditional trade area analysis is that it is often treated as a one-off study – conducted for a few months, analysed, and then shelved for years. In contrast, geospatial science, the likes of which is offered by AfriGIS, provides a systematic, live approach to location planning. With a geospatial analysis platform, businesses can continuously monitor and recalibrate their network strategies, ensuring that their decisions are always based on up-to-date data. This kind of approach doesn't just offer efficiency – it's a game changer for resource allocation. For example, if a flagship store isn't performing as expected, businesses can pivot. By understanding the real-time data through a geospatial lens, companies can reposition resources, potentially converting a flagship store into a mid-tier location and identifying the right place for a true flagship site. By making geospatial analysis a part of your ongoing strategy, businesses can make constant course corrections, rather than waiting five years to realise their initial assumptions were flawed. This proactive, data-driven approach helps ensure that your capital expenditures are allocated where they'll yield the best results. The cost of missing the geospatial edge When it comes to large-scale expansions – whether it's opening hundreds or thousands of new stores – geospatial science is no longer optional. It's an essential tool for ensuring that businesses make the right location decisions. Without accurate, predictive modelling, the investment required to roll out new stores or facilities becomes a huge gamble. A business that attempts to plan for such growth with spreadsheets or basic market research is setting itself up for failure. Geospatial science offers a level of insight and precision that cannot be achieved through traditional methods. It incorporates real-time data, predictive models, and customer behaviour patterns to provide a comprehensive, dynamic view of the market landscape. This is a massive competitive advantage, especially in sectors like retail and services, where location is everything. A more efficient, cost-effective way forward While implementing geospatial analysis may initially seem like a costly or complex undertaking, the truth is that it offers an incredibly cost-effective solution in the long run. At AfriGIS, we've designed geospatial platforms that allow businesses to tap into rich, updated datasets without needing to invest in specialised in-house teams of geospatial scientists. By sourcing, cleaning, and spatially enabling datasets, we give businesses the tools they need to make smarter, data-driven decisions without the need for ongoing, expensive consultancy studies. What's more, this data is continuously updated, ensuring businesses always have the latest insights at their fingertips. With a platform that integrates both current data and predictive models, businesses can confidently plan for future growth and adapt to changing market conditions without the need for costly, periodic studies. In an age where location-based decisions are critical to growth, businesses that fail to adopt geospatial science are leaving money on the table. Whether you're planning the next retail store, healthcare facility, or public service delivery point, ignoring geospatial analysis is a huge missed opportunity. The ability to predict, analyse, and continually adapt your strategy based on dynamic geospatial data isn't just a nice-to-have – it's a competitive necessity. By adopting a live, ongoing system for trade area analysis, businesses can make informed, future-proof decisions that drive growth, optimise resources, and reduce costly real estate mistakes. For companies looking to stay ahead of the curve, the time to integrate geospatial science into your planning is now.


Zawya
3 days ago
- Zawya
EWEC to recycle plants to support Abu Dhabi decarbonisation, grid stability
Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), the sole procurer and supplier of water and electricity in Abu Dhabi, is implementing a strategy to recycle existing power and water plants as part of its broader clean energy transition plan. The approach was detailed by Mark Hedges, EWEC's Executive Director of Asset Management, during a panel discussion at The World Utilities Congress held in Abu Dhabi from 27–29 May 2025. The EWEC executive explained that while clean energy initiatives often focus on innovation and new infrastructure, repurposing existing plants offers a practical pathway toward decarbonisation. 'We're actually converting [old plants] to standby power, but power only. They're running a very small part of the time just to stabilise the grid,' he said. Last month, EWEC extended Shuweihat S1 power and water plant's Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) by 15 years under a plan to decommission its water desalination operations and convert it into a natural gas-fired open-cycle power plant. Commissioned in 2005 with 1.5 gigawatts(GW) of power and 455,000 cubic metres/day (m3/day) of water production capacity, Shuweihat S1 is operated by Sumitomo Corporation in partnership with TAQA and ENGIE. As the first project in the UAE to undergo long-term extension through plant conversion, the reconfigured plant will operate on-demand with a reduced capacity of 1,130 megawatts (MW), contributing to lower CO₂ emissions. According to Hedges, the repurposing strategy offers multiple benefits: Efficiency gains: Redirecting steam from water production to power generation improves overall system efficiency. Cost savings: Recycling avoids the capital expense of building new high-emission plants with 25–30-year life spans, and potentially conflict with the UAE's 2050 net-zero goals. 'We don't really want to commit to a brand-new plant that has a lifetime that's either too long or we have to curtail it… then the cost goes up because you're paying it off over a short period,' he explained. Grid stability: Having standby power capacity enhances the stability and reliability of the grid and accommodate growing share of variable renewable energy. "This recycling of plants, which is a life extension project, is really good for the system,' he said. EWEC's recycling strategy aligns with its commitment to delivering electricity and water through a lower-carbon grid. On the desalination front, the company is shifting towards reverse osmosis (RO) technology for water production, replacing conventional thermal desalination. 'All of our water now is produced by RO osmosis driven by a decarbonising power grid,' Hedges noted. In its Statement of Future Capacity Requirements 2024–2030, EWEC projected that over 7 GW of power and more than 2 million m3/day of water capacity will reach the end of existing contracts by 2037. The company plans to reconfigure and extend plants reaching contract expiry, with contract extensions expected to add nearly 3.5GW of power capacity by 2030, rising to just over 6GW by 2035. (Writing by Rajiv Pillai; Editing by Anoop Menon) (


The National
3 days ago
- The National
Japanese company to make second Moon landing attempt
Japan's ispace is preparing to attempt a second Moon landing on Friday, more than two years after its first mission ended in failure moments before touchdown. The private space company is aiming to deliver its Resilience lander safely onto the lunar surface at 4.17am JST (11.17pm GST) on June 6, with a livestream on the company's website scheduled to begin an hour earlier. If successful, it would be a major milestone for ispace and will help validate the role of commercial firms in lunar exploration. The company's spacecraft - which was carrying the UAE's Rashid rover and payload from other countries - crashed on the lunar surface during a landing attempt in 2023. 'Just over two years ago, on April 26, 2023, ispace, operating Hakuto-R Mission 1, became the first private company in the world to attempt a lunar landing," company founder Takeshi Hakamada said on Wednesday. "While the mission achieved significant results, we lost communication with the lander just before touchdown. 'Since that time, we have drawn on the experience, using it as motivation to move forward with resolve. We are now at the dawn of our next attempt to make history." The mission is part of a broader vision by ispace, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, to help build what it calls a cislunar economy, in the space between the Earth and the Moon. But the company must first prove that it can land a spacecraft intact, something only a handful of government space agencies and two private firms have achieved to date. Second chance After ispace's 2023 lunar landing attempt, engineers discovered that the Hakuto-R lander had misjudged its altitude. Believing it had landed when it was still in the air, it shut off its engines prematurely, causing it to crash. It was the first attempt by a private company and, despite failing, it provided crucial data for engineers. The Resilience lander is carrying commercial payloads, including the Tenacious rover by the European Space Agency, and aims to demonstrate ispace's capability to offer transportation services to the Moon. A third mission is planned for 2026. Tough field Several private companies have attempted to land on the Moon in recent years. In January 2024, US-based Astrobotic launched its Peregrine lander, but a propellant leak soon after deployment led to mission failure. The following month, Intuitive Machines achieved the first successful private Moon landing with its Odysseus lander, though the spacecraft tipped over after touchdown. In March this year, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace became the first company to complete a fully successful private lunar landing with its Blue Ghost mission, operating on the surface for two weeks. Intuitive Machines followed with Athena, which also reached the Moon but landed on its side, prematurely ending the mission. Creating lunar access While the short-term goal of these missions is proving technical capability, experts say the long-term stakes are much higher. Dr Dimitra Atri, an astrophysicist at New York University Abu Dhabi, said the Moon could serve as a critical hub for future deep space missions. 'Harnessing the water on the Moon to produce oxygen and hydrogen, essential components of rocket fuel, holds the potential to transform lunar mining operations into a 'gas station' for future space missions,' he told The National. 'The Moon could serve as a launching point for spacecraft, offering a cost-effective alternative due to its lower gravity.' Commercial players such as ispace hope to play a leading role by offering regular transport to and from the lunar surface. Anna Hazlett, founder of UAE space advisory firm AzurX, told The National that if companies succeed in establishing access, it would change how space missions are designed. 'A commercial lunar transport service lowers the barrier to entry for space agencies and research institutions,' she said. 'It's a shift from bespoke, typically government-led missions to scalable lunar logistics, much like what SpaceX did for low Earth orbit.' Dr Atri said this business model would also benefit scientists like him. 'If I want to carry out a scientific experiment on the Moon, I will have to design the entire mission, propose it to a space agency, and the launch will be in about a decade from conception,' he said. 'In the case of private companies, I only need to focus on building my experiment and the company will deliver the payload to the Moon rather quickly." Nerve-racking moments ispace has made upgrades to its lander systems, including improved software and navigation tools, for the second landing. Because the Moon has no atmosphere, engineers cannot use parachutes to slow down the spacecraft. Instead it has to use its propulsion system to change velocity and attitude. The unstable terrain of the lunar surface can hamper a safe landing. 'We strongly believe this endeavour and its long-term success will contribute to making life on Earth sustainable for all humanity,' said Mr Hakamada. If the vehicle successfully lands, it will operate on the Moon for two weeks.