Arabs & Arabian Records Aggregator. Chronicler. Milestones of the 25 Countries of the Arabic Speaking World (official / co-official). AGCC. MENA. Global. Ist's to Top 10's. Records. Read & Enjoy./ www.arabianrecords.org
The Ministry of Transport announced via a tweet on 18 October 2022 that the Lusail Bus Depot has entered the Guinness World Records for the largest electric bus depot.
The bus depot that was inaugurated on 18 October 2022 has a capacity of 478 electric buses and is a fulfilment of The Public Works Authority – Ashghal and the Ministry of Transport of Qatar.
Powered by 11,000 units of solar panels the bus depot entered the records on 16 September 2022 as per Guinness World Records.
source/content: iloveqatar.net (headline edited)
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Source: Ministry of Transport/ Guinness World Records / Cover image credit: Ministry of Transport
Saudi Arabia was elected to the membership of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization until 2025 during voting at the ICAO 41st general assembly in Montreal, Canada.
The Kingdom was re-elected after a voting process with the participation of 193 UN member states.
The council has 36 members, including the US, France, Singapore and the UK, “thus providing a voice to the Arab and Islamic countries,” the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistics Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser praised the importance of the election for the Kingdom, saying: “Since the establishment of the first airline in 1945, the Kingdom has proven its commitment and tireless work toward the aviation sector, both domestically and internationally.”
He added that the Kingdom is now working in line with the vision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman by consolidating its global leadership role in the sector.
Al-Jasser said that the election “represents a broad tribute to the tireless efforts being made by the Kingdom to be a center for air linkage between the three continents to achieve the objectives of the national strategy for transport and logistics services.”
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Saudi Minister of Transport and Logistics Saleh Al-Jasser attends 41st International Civil Aviation Organization General Assembly in Canada. (SPA)
Mohammad Abdullah Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Chairman of the Committee leading Great Arab Minds, and Secretary-General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), highlighted the details of “The Great Arab Minds” initiative.
Launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, in January 2022, the initiative is the Arab world’s largest movement designed to search for exceptional talents among Arab scientists, thinkers, and innovators across key fields.
The Great Arab Minds initiative, under the MBRGI, aims to identify, support and acknowledge leading thinkers in the region, amplify their impact and inspire future generations. One of its main purposes is to reduce the emigration of Arab scientists, specialists, intellectuals, doctors, and engineers.
He affirmed that “The Great Arab Minds” initiative reflect His Highness’ vision in reigniting the Arab World’s Civilisation Drive, support great Arab minds and acknowledge their work and achievements, in service of humanity.
Mohammad Al Gergawi pointed out the importance of the Arab Reading Challenge initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, among many other development projects, serving more than 91 million beneficiaries.
A study conducted by KPMG, showed that ignorance costs the Arab world more than US$2 trillion. The Great Arab Minds initiative aims to change this reality and contribute to shaping a brighter future for Arab generations.
During an event organised in the Museum of the Future to announce the details of the initiative, Mohammad Al Gergawi witnessed the signing of four partnerships between “The Great Arab Minds” initiative and KPMG, LinkedIn, Meta, and Majarra.
The initiative’s mission is to search for exceptional talents among Arab scientists, thinkers, and innovators across key fields, aiming to identify, support and acknowledge leading thinkers in the region, amplify their impact and inspire future generations.
Over a 5-year period, “The Great Arab Minds” will reward scientists, thought leaders, scholars, and innovators across 6 categories: Natural Sciences (Physics and Chemistry), Medicine, Literature and Arts, Economics, Technology and Engineering, and Architecture & Design.
The initiative includes the “Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Great Arab Minds”, which will be awarded to 6 winners of six categories each year.
The Great Arab Minds initiative aims to facilitate the recognition of Arab thought leaders, scholars, scientists, geniuses, and transforming their ideas to real-life breakthroughs and solutions. It also aims at empowering cluster of Arab scientists and thinkers and building a network of Arab thinkers, scientists, and exceptional talents in various fields to work as one team to drive the Arab world’s intellectual renaissance.
Nujoud Fahoum Merancy started the Twitter hashtag ‘YallaToTheMoon’ to support latest mission.
A Palestinian-American woman is one of the leaders of the Artemis missions, a programme by Nasa that aims to fly astronauts to the Moon.
Nujoud Fahoum Merancy, 43, is the chief of exploration mission planning at the US space agency and has been working in the space sector for more than two decades.
She started the Twitter hashtag ‘YallaToTheMoon’ to support the Artemis 1 mission, which is scheduled for another launch attempt on Saturday, from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre. ‘Yalla’ is an Arabic word that translates to ‘let’s go’ or ‘come on’.
Before the historic event, Ms Merancy spoke to The National about her Palestinian roots and her involvement in the Artemis programme.
A stellar career
The Artemis 1 mission is an unmanned flight around the Moon that will test the performance of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.
If successful, it would pave the way for Nasa to launch Artemis 2 and 3, crewed flights around the Moon and the first human lunar landing mission under the programme.
“As a Palestinian-American, I’m very excited to be a part of this programme,” she said.
“And, really, Nasa and Artemis, it is a much more diverse workforce than it was during the Apollo era.
“It’s important to me and to a lot of us that it represents all of humanity and Artemis itself is international because we have international partners.”
Ms Merancy, a mother-of-two, earned her bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle.
From there, she joined the aerospace company Boeing to work on the International Space Station.
She then started working on the development of Orion, the spacecraft launching on top of Nasa’s mega Moon rocket on Saturday that will fly around the Moon — and one day carry astronauts.
“From that, I’ve transitioned into the mission planning for Artemis, which is designing and integrating the missions across all the programmes for Artemis, and that’s my current role,” she said.
Connecting with her Palestinian roots
Ms Merancy went viral on the internet in 2019 when she posted her official Nasa photo, in which she wore a blazer embroidered with Palestinian tatreez, a traditional cross-stitch, that she bought during a visit to her father’s home town of Nazareth.
Her father moved to the US more than 40 years ago to go to college.
Although she was born in the US and does not speak fluent Arabic, she said her Palestinian roots were important to her.
“I don’t speak Arabic, unfortunately, it’s one of those regrets that I’ll always have,” she said.
“I know the basics, a few words here and there, and the polite greetings.
“But I do enjoy the food and that is something I grew up on. And then as an adult, I started cooking.
“So, I have a whole bunch of Palestinian cookbooks just to learn other recipes that my family didn’t teach me.
“I do like to cook Palestinian food and that’s probably the biggest connection to the culture that I have.”
Palestinian presence in the space sector
Other Palestinians are involved in the Artemis programme or are making a name for themselves in the US space sector through other projects.
Soha Alqeshawi, born and raised in Gaza city with her seven siblings, currently works for Lockheed Martin as a software engineering associate manager and looks after Orion’s back up-flight software.
And Loay Elbasyouni is a Palestinian-American electrical engineer who helped design Nasa’s Mars rover, Perseverance.
“My parents did their best to provide me and my siblings with a good education and shield us from the effects of the continuous horrific conflict that Gaza has been living under,” Ms Alqeshawi told Portuguese journalist Margarida Santos Lopes in 2015.
“Living under constant fear and despair where everything is uncertain and basic life necessities such as electricity and sometimes water are unavailable for most of the day.
“Although I was the only one in my family who had the opportunity to leave Gaza for the US to study and work, all of my brothers and sisters are college-educated with degrees in science, engineering and business.”
“Going to school was sometimes a dangerous journey that could have death waiting at any step of the way.
“However, that made us more determined to achieve our dreams in receiving an education.’
Nujoud Fahoum Merancy went viral in 2019 when she posted her official Nasa photo, in which she wore a blazer embroidered with Palestinian tatreez, a traditional cross-stitch that she purchased during a visit to her father’s hometown of Nazareth. Photo: @nujoud
Navigating AIDA IV through new Suez Canal on opening day: Meet Egypt’s 1st female shipmaster.
Marwa El-Selehdar reveals how she became Egypt’s first female shipmaster and her journey to be part of the new Suez Canal celebrations.
As the government promoted the new Suez Canal as “Egypt’s gift to the world,” Marwa El-Selehdar, the country’s first and youngest female shipmaster, received the good news.
The 24-year-old would assist in navigating a naval vessel through the new waterway during the opening celebrations on 6 August, she was recently informed.
“I never thought that my dream would finally come true. I am going to be part of the inauguration as a second naval officer on the deck of the training ship AIDA IV,” El Selhdar told Al-Ahram newspaper.
El-Selehdar believes that her participation as the youngest and first Egyptian and Arab female shipmaster would bolster the image of the “civilised Egyptian women.”
“I was filled with joyous fear when I first learned about my participation.”
A 2012 graduate of the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) in the coastal city of Alexandria, El-Selehdar said that becoming a shipmaster was a childhood dream.
“In my first time ever training on board a ship, [My] Captain Abdel Hamid El-Qady and the rest of the crew made me feel at home,” El-Selehdar recalled.
Initially enrolled as a student in the maritime transport department at AASTMT, El-Selehdar was later encouraged to move to the marine navigation department at the school when she found out that there were no rules that prohibit females from studying to become shipmasters, she said in a television interview back in 2010.
Her determination to join the marine navigation department was further fuelled when she heard that a female student from the African Island of Djibouti won a scholarship to study at the department.
“I challenged myself and asked for a transfer from the maritime transport department to the marine navigation department. Amid a wave of refusals, this was the battle I had to fight in order to achieve my dream,” El-Selehdar said.
As she joined a male-dominated profession, El-Selehdar says that her mother encouraged her [as a woman] to continue on the path she chose.
Egypt has been preparing for grand celebrations for the opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal waterway on Thursday.
On Tuesday, nine swimmers who belong to the Egyptian Paralympics team – set to compete in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics — crossed the new waterway holding a huge Egyptian flag.
Incoming visitors to the country had their passports stamped with “Egypt’s gift to the world” by Customs authorities.
After fulfilling her first dream of becoming a shipmaster, El-Selehdar is ready to achieve her second dream of living through the opening of the new canal.
“I always thought this project was a major one, but I never realised we would actually witness this remarkable and extraordinary event,” El-Selehdar said.
source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited) text / pix: marineinsight.com
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the third Middle Eastern nation to send a man into space in 2019 when it launched Hazza Al Mansouri to the International Space Station, making him the nation’s first astronaut according to catapult. The UAE then rose to the position of the 40th spacefaring nation. Now, Sultan Al Neyadi is another astronaut embarking on a new journey to set new records. An announcement was made earlier last week that UAE’s Al Neyadi will be flying to the orbiting lab on SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission, which is expected to launch in the first half of 2023 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre in the U.S. His participation was arranged through a previously disclosed agreement with Axiom Space, a Texas-based aerospace company.
Al Neyadi was chosen among a group of Emirati astronauts to serve as the first Arab astronaut on a protracted space mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew-6 mission will be launched by NASA and SpaceX. Al Neyadi will carry out numerous intricate and sophisticated scientific experiments throughout the flight as a part of the UAE Astronaut Program.
Last year, the UAE made history with its unmanned Hope Probe to Mars by becoming the first Arab country and the fifth globally to reach the Red Planet. The mission has since discovered a new type of aurora on Mars, challenging scientists’ understanding of the planet, which was thought not to possess auroras at all. It is clear that the UAE is looking for possibilities to utilize advanced satellite communications, and use cutting-edge space technology on Earth. Therefore, the UAE established the National Space Fund which is an AED 3 billion fund from UAE Space Agency.
The fund will promote innovative initiatives that assist foreign and Emirati businesses in working together on applications in the engineering, sciences, and research fields related to space. A constellation of sophisticated remote sensing satellites using radar technologies will be the fund’s first project to be sent into orbit and will offer unmatched imaging capabilities.
This fund is crucial since it has made other projects possible and enabled economic diversification. A unifying factor among many of the Gulf Region’s nations is the transition away from an economy reliant on the production and sale of oil. In addition to the UAE, other nations like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait are currently investing billions of dollars in research and development to open up new businesses, which has gradually raised regional interest in space.
The UAE’s trajectory is one that is ambitious to expand its space sector which was made official In March 2019. This is when the UAE Government launched the National Space Strategy 2030, which sets the general framework for the UAE’s space industry and activities carried out by public and private sectors for the years leading up to 2030.
An experienced pilot has risen through the ranks over 15 years with Etihad.
There is no limit for Emirati women, says Aisha Al Mansoori who has risen through the ranks from a cadet pilot at Etihad Airways to become captain. She is the first Emirati woman to achieve the feat.
At the airline’s crew briefing centre , Al Mansoori received four stripes on her uniform, confirming her new rank.
“I feel very happy and proud,” said the pilot aged 33, who has almost 6,000 flight hours under her wings since joining the UAE’s national airline more than 15 years ago.
“It is an achievement that I’ve been looking forward to and working hard for since I was a cadet pilot,” she told The National.
She took inspiration from her sister, Major Mariam Al Mansouri, the UAE’s first female fighter pilot.
“Growing up, becoming a pilot was not really an option for Emirati women. But I was lucky that my sister started flying when I was still in high school. I went with her to the air show,” she tells The National.
“When I saw the aircraft and pilots, I just fell in love. I knew that is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
She joined Etihad’s cadet programme in 2007 where she trained with a Cessna 172, a four-seat, single-engine aircraft, and Diamond DA42, a four-seat, twin-engine aircraft.
After graduating, Al Mansoori joined Etihad Airways as a cadet pilot on Airbus A320. She progressed to flying Airbus A330s and became the first female UAE national to fly an A380 superjumbo, the world’s largest passenger jet.
Now she is back to flying Airbus A320s as a captain. Over the years, she was promoted to the ranks of second officer, first officer and senior first officer, and has now taken on the rank of captain, marking a first for her country. It has been a long and rewarding journey, and she still remembers the first time she took to the skies.
“The first time I flew an aircraft, it felt very isolated in the cockpit because we have to keep the doors closed. I had come after training in a simulator which is also a closed box environment. So, I was very focused on my mission,” she says.
“That’s when a training captain told me I should step outside and say goodbye to the passengers. And only then it hit me that those are the people who trust me with their lives. I realised what a great responsibility and a great honour it is to be a pilot.”
The job is also full of challenges, says Al Mansoori.
“If you’re not passionate, it’s hard to survive because of [the] long and irregular working hours. Sometimes you have to work through the night. You need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and control your rest to be able to function. But at the same time, the joy and fulfilment of the job are definitely worth it.”
The sky seems to be the limit for this high-flying Emirati who would one day like to train and inspire future pilots. “I think we have a lot of promising talents in the company that will do great in the future,” she said.
But for now, she’s excited that her milestone shatters another glass ceiling for Emirati women.
“We are both privileged and lucky to be born in the UAE as opportunities are open. All you need to do is seek it and take it.”
“Etihad is extremely proud of Captain Aisha’s achievement and the trailblazing role she is playing for women in aviation in the UAE. She will no doubt be the first of many, and Etihad looks forward to welcoming more female pilots to the rank of Captain in the future,” said Mohammad Al Bulooki, chief operating officer at Etihad Aviation Group.
Al Mansoori will commence regular flying duties as a captain at Etihad on August 28, a day that also marks Emirati Women’s Day.
Sara Sabry – Mechanical and Biomedical Engineer. The first female Egyptian Analog Astronaut
Engineer Sara Sabry has become the first Egyptian to travel on a suborbital flight, after New Shepard’s 22nd space flight (NS-22) – operated by the American private aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin – carried her and five others to the edge of space before returning to Earth.
Launched from Corn ranch, West Texas in the US, the New Shepard stayed for 11 minutes at 106 km above the ground.
The 29-year-old Sabry flew with entrepreneur Mário Ferreira, the first person from Portugal to fly to space; British-American mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien; American technology leader Clint Kelly III; telecommunications executive Steve Young; and Coby Cotton, cofounder of the YouTube channel Dude Perfect.
Sabry earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the American University in Cairo and her master’s degree in biomedical engineering at Italy’s Polytechnic University of Milan.
She is also currently preparing for her PhD in aerospace sciences with a focus on space suit design, according to Blue Origin.
Sabry’s seat on NS-22 is sponsored by the Colorado-based nonprofit Space for Humanity (S4H), which is concerned with increasing access to space for all of humanity.
According to the official website of Space for Humanity, its “citizen astronauts” are chosen from among “change-makers who are currently serving a community leadership role.”
Sabry is S4H’s second “citizen astronaut” to fly on board the NS-22 after Katya Echazarreta in June.
Blue Origin has not announced how much it charges for seats on its space flights, and neither has S4H revealed how much it paid to book seats for its “citizen astronauts.”
According to some news reports, however, the price possibly ranges from zero to $28 million based on several factors including who the passenger’s social status.
This is the sixth trip by Blue Origin since its launch by US billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2015.
The Jamarat Bridge project is a massive structure built to save pilgrims’ lives and facilitate a crucial Hajj ritual.
Pilgrims gather in this place to throw stones at the devil in a symbolic act as part of their Hajj. Without this act, their pilgrimage is incomplete and considered to be unaccepted.
The concept of stoning the devil began when Prophet Ibrahim intended to sacrifice his son Ismael upon Allah’s order. The devil tried to dissuade the prophet three times from carrying out the order.
On each of the three occasions, the prophet pelted the devil with seven small pebbles to drive him away, after which the devil disappeared. This act has become a symbolic ritual and an integral part of Hajj.
It takes place over two or three days, from the 10th day of Dhul Hijjah until before sunset on the 13th.
The three pillars were previously built of stone and mud with low barriers surrounding them. They were then covered with cement, with the size of the pillars remaining unchanged for years.
However, the increasing number of pilgrims called for a project to help manage the hundreds of thousands of worshippers gathering in one place.
According to Mohammed Idris, former vice dean of The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umrah Research, the three pillars were surrounded by circular walls until 1975.
“A substantial enlargement of the area took place in 1987, and other expansions followed to upgrade the Jamarat area’s capacity to ease pilgrim movement and avoid accidents. The exit points and entrances to the pillars were amended, and the curved paths to the Jamarat were made straight,” he told Arab News.
The Jamarat Bridge was originally a pedestrian structure built in 1963 to facilitate the stoning ritual. Since then, it has been expanded several times to accommodate the increasing number of pilgrims.
A substantial enlargement of the bridge took place in 1974, and other expansions followed to upgrade the bridge’s capacity to ease pilgrim movement and avoid accidents.
Despite this, the structure witnessed several deadly incidents owing to actions of pilgrims who violated instructions, thereby sparking stampedes and deaths.
In 1990, over 1,400 pilgrims were killed by trampling and suffocation in Al-Ma’aisim pedestrian tunnel, which led from Makkah to Mina. Between 1994 and 2006, more than 1,030 pilgrims were killed in stampedes while trying to stone the pillars. Around 470 others were injured.
The worst stoning-related incident in recent memory occurred on Sept. 25, 2015, when more than 700 pilgrims died and another 800 were injured when pilgrims surged toward the intersection of Street 204 and Street 223.
A doctor at an emergency department of a Mina hospital told Arab News at the time that most of the pilgrims died of asphyxiation.
A Saudi interior ministry spokesman had blamed the stampede on “unprecedented high numbers of pilgrims” as compared to previous years, plus the fact that a majority of the victims had descended onto a pathway during a time that they were not allowed to enter it.
Witnesses to the tragedy had confirmed that a large group of Iranian pilgrims passed through Souq Al-Arab Street and refused to return, ignoring Hajj guidelines.
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FASTFACTS
• Stampedes and surges caused thousands of deaths at the Jamarat Bridge before the infrastructure was upgraded.
• The project, to alleviate overcrowding and avoid tragedies, cost $1.12 billion.
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Regardless of the causes of the tragedies, they prompted the Saudi government to devise a solution that could save lives. After the 2015 incident, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman offered condolences and immediately ordered an urgent review of the Hajj plan.
Over four years, Saudi authorities studied and researched the site before the old structure was completely removed and replaced by the existing engineering marvel known as the Jamarat Bridge.
The new project details were approved by top engineering and architectural committees consisting of local experts and highly experienced US, German, and British engineers. The opinion of senior Muslim scholars was taken into consideration for the religious position on the project details.
“In 2005, the circular walls around the pillars were reshaped, making them elliptical to facilitate the movement of the pilgrims,” Idris told Arab News.
“ In 2007 the old Jamarat project was discarded, and work on the new project began. A year later, one floor as per the project was fully constructed. In 2009, the second floor was made ready to serve pilgrims. By 2010, the entire planned construction was fully complete.”
The bridge, which was constructed over three years by more than 11,000 workers, is 950 meters long and has six floors, including the basement, with a height of 12 meters per floor. Each floor can absorb up to 120,000 pilgrims per hour.
Its foundation was constructed to withstand 12 floors to accommodate 5 million pilgrims by 2030.
On the fifth level, umbrellas cover the site of the three Jamarat to enhance the comfort of pilgrims and protect them from the sun and heat.
The Hajj infrastructure showpiece, which has won several local and global awards, was built at a cost of over SR4.2 billion ($1.12 billion).
It has 12 entrances, 12 exit roads from four directions, two tunnels, 19 ramps, escalators, emergency exits, helipads, six service buildings, and an air-conditioning system with water sprinklers to cool the atmosphere and reduce the area’s temperature to 29 degrees Celsius.
The building also contains three electric stations and a standby generator that automatically supplies electricity in case of any temporary power cut.
Unlike the old circular shape of the walls around the three pillars, the new oval design has contributed to a better pilgrim flow. It has also assisted in increasing the bridge’s capacity for pilgrim numbers.
The new bridge was designed by Dar Al-Handasah and constructed by the Saudi Binladin Group. It features a wider and column-free interior space, longer Jamrah pillars, additional ramps and tunnels for easier access, large canopies to cover each of the three pillars to protect pilgrims from the sun, and ramps adjacent to the pillars to speed up evacuation in the event of an emergency.
No casualties have been reported at the Jamarat sites in six years. However, both Saudi Hajj and health authorities are prepared for any scenario. This year, 17 emergency centers will be present at Jamarat Bridge to assist in any emergencies — from crowd surges and falls to illness — that pilgrims may face on their Hajj journey.
source/contents: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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The walkway leading to the symbolic stoning of the devil, the oval design has contributed to better pilgrim flow and boosted the structure’s capacity for accommodating people. (AFP)A substantial enlargement of the bridge took place in 1974, and other expansions followed to upgrade the bridge’s capacity to ease pilgrim movement and avoid accidents. (AFP/File Photo)
The structure could remain airborne for years at a time.
Yemeni engineer Hashem Al-Ghaili has unveiled his vision for the future of travel, and it wouldn’t look out of place in a film about the apocalypse.
Al-Ghaili posted a video on YouTube proposing a giant nuclear-powered sky hotel named Sky Cruise, which could accommodate 5,000 passengers. Like an enormous, winged, futuristic-looking cruise liner, it would be fuelled by 20 electric engines, with a small nuclear reactor using “highly controlled fusion reaction to provide the sky hotel with unlimited energy”.
As such, the hotel would never run out of power and could remain suspended in the air for several years, “without ever touching the ground”. Both supplies and passengers would be delivered to the hotel via traditional commercial jets. All maintenance and repairs would also be conducted mid-air.
Suspended high above the clouds, the sky hotel would feature a large “panoramic hall”, offering 360-degree views of the skies. A lift would connect this space to the main entertainment deck, which would be home to shopping malls, sports centres, swimming pools, restaurants, bars, children’s playgrounds, theatres and cinemas. A separate section of the airborne hotel would be dedicated to events and business meetings, as well as wedding halls.
Incorporated into the design are balconies and viewing domes attached to each side of the structure, where guests could indulge in some high-level stargazing. “Its sleek design combines the features of a commercial plane, while offering the epitome of luxury,” Al-Ghaili’s video explains.
Sky Cruise would also eliminate disturbance from turbulence, with its navigation systems featuring a state-of-the-art command deck that uses artificial intelligence to predict turbulence minutes before it happens. The system would respond by creating anti-vibrations.
The hotel would also be home to an advanced medical facility to keep guests “safe, healthy and fit”.
The concept was originally created by Tony Holmsten and then reimagined and animated by Al-Ghaili. But it has been greeted with scepticism by commentators: “If physics and aerodynamics didn’t exist, then this vessel might actually be able to take off,” wrote one YouTube user.“
Hashem Al-Ghaili is a Yemeni molecular biotechnologist, science communicator, director and producer. He is best known for his infographics and videos about scientific breakthroughs.
