D C—41 C TODAY LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE PUZZLES

4GULF TIMES Thursday, June 2, 2016COMMUNITYCOVER STORYSmall is bountifulThe hopes of the upstarts are bolstered by news that big firms areplanning to launch constellations of hundreds or even thousands ofsatellites that would provide low-cost Internet access, especially tomore remote areas of the world, writes Samantha MasunagaSLICK: A set of NanoRacks CubeSats is photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member after the deployment by the Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD). The CubeSats programme contains avariety of experiments such as Earth observations and advanced electronics testing.Suddenly, everyone fromthe US government,commercial satellitecompanies, universitiesand even high schoolstudents needs to have a smallsatellite.And that is fuelling anotherboom, in Southern California andacross the West, in companiesdedicated to giving the satellites aride to space.By one estimate, 210 satellitesweighing less than 110 pounds willbe launched this year, to do suchthings as map the Earth, expandbroadband access and trackpackages on shipping vessels.That’s up from just 25 launches in2010. The number is expected todouble again in five years.In the last six months, atleast half a dozen new launchvehicle firms aimed at the smallsatellite market have croppedup, said Marco Caceres, seniorspace analyst for Teal Group, anaerospace and defence analysiscompany.The ever-growing list includesFirefly Space Systems in CedarPark, Texas; Rocket Lab in LosAngeles and Richard Branson’sVirgin Galactic, best known for itsspace tourism endeavours.In a quiet industrial parknear Long Beach Airport wherewarplanes were once built aroundthe clock, Virgin Galactic ismaking a satellite-launchingrocket that will drop from thewing of a 747.“There is strong confidence inthe aerospace community thatsmall satellites are the way to go,”said Kevin Sagis, chief engineerfor LauncherOne. “It’s an excitingtime.”The hopes of the upstarts arebolstered by news that companiessuch as SpaceX outside LosAngeles and OneWeb in Arlington,Virginia, are planning to launchconstellations of hundreds or eventhousands of satellites that wouldprovide low-cost Internet access,especially to more remote areas ofthe world.Last year, SpaceX opened anoffice in Seattle where engineerswill build smaller satellites forlaunch. Around the same time,Branson announced an investmentin the OneWeb venture.“Just those two companiesalone can create a whole newmarket,” Caceres said. “AndI think that’s what launchcompanies are looking for.”Traditional satellitemanufacturing has long beenbased in Southern California.Hughes Electronics Corporationbuilt satellites at its El Segundofacility outside LA for years beforeits space and communicationsbusinesses were acquired in2000 by aerospace giant BoeingCo. Boeing still manufacturessatellites in El Segundo.Swarms of satellites arenot a new idea. Huge satelliteconstellations were proposedback in the 1990s as a way toprovide telecommunicationsservices around the globe.But entrepreneurs badlyunderestimated the steep cost ofbuilding and blasting hundredsof satellites into orbit, and the

Thursday, June 2, 2016GULF TIMES5COMMUNITYCOVER STORYDemand for mobile connectivity is also greater than itever was and new technology has driven down the costof developing and launching a satellite, aided in partby miniaturisation; smaller satellites weigh less, andthus are cheaper to launchproposed services were undercutby cheaper ground-based cellularservices.Plans for the ambitiousTeledesic satellite constellationcollapsed in the early 2000s. Thenetwork, which was to providehigh-speed Internet service, wasfounded by cellphone pioneerCraig McCaw and garnered someinvestment from Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, but couldn’traise enough money to cover itshigh costs.In 1999, satellitecommunications companyIridium filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy protection after itsigned up fewer than 50,000customers for its global telephoneservice. The company laterreorganised and its network of 66satellites still provides services.Industry players say this timewill be different. They point to thegreater diversity in satellite usagenow as insurance against the bustof any one particular industry.Planet Labs, for example, saysit operates the largest fleet ofEarth observation satellites. Datafrom the San Francisco company’snanosatellites can be used tomonitor farmland and trackcarbon emissions.Demand for mobileconnectivity is also greater thanit ever was in the 1990s, even inpreviously unconnected placessuch as airplanes.And new technology has drivendown the cost of developing andlaunching a satellite, aided inpart by miniaturisation; smallersatellites weigh less, and thus arecheaper to launch.Tom Stroup, president of theSatellite Industry Association,said it’s not likely that all thesatellite constellations thathave been announced will belaunched. But he expects at leastone, if not more, of the proposedprojects in each sector — imaging,broadband, communicationservices — to succeed.“We live in a different worldthan we did in the 1990s,” he said.Another plus for this round ofsatellite projects is that they’remore likely to be backed by thecompanies’ own money, saidCaceres of Teal Group.“They’re not totally reliant oninvestors like they were in the1990s,” he said. “So there’s agood chance that many of thesecompanies will be able to putthese thousands of satellites intoorbit, and if they do, they needlaunch vehicles.”Currently, small satellites canhitch a ride by going “piggyback”on a rocket purchased by a largercompany and squeezing in wherethere’s space. But aspiring launchproviders say this method canrestrict the launch time andlocation, as well as the orbitwhere the satellite will be placed.That’s where companies likeVirgin Galactic think they cansucceed.The company announced itsLauncherOne project in 2012 afterit saw the potential in the smallsatellite market. Virgin Galacticplans to eventually produce 24rockets or more each year in its150,000-square-foot facility,which borders the Long BeachAirport and is near the formerBoeing C-17 plant, which closedin November.Virgin Galactic is looking toproduce rockets quickly andat low cost. On average, thecompany said it will cost 10million to launch a 440-poundsatellite to a 500-kilometresun-synchronous orbit, the mostcommonly requested orbit. Thatcompares with SpaceX’s startingprice of 62 million for its Falcon9 rocket, or Rocket Lab’s 5million charge for a 330-poundpayload.The company has invested inmachines that speed the rocketproduction line. One of themcreates new parts through 3-Dprinting, while simultaneouslyshaving off any extra material thatcould make a part even a hair’swidth too big.Even the launch system wasdesigned with costs in mind.The 65-foot-long rocket willbe secured under the left wing ofa modified commercial 747-400jetliner dubbed Cosmic Girl. Afterthe plane climbs to about 35,000feet, it will release LauncherOneto deliver the payload into orbit.LauncherOne’s first test flightis scheduled for next year. Theplane will take off from Mojaveand launch the rocket off theCalifornia coast near SantaBarbara.The company has alreadystarted to fill its launch manifest.Its biggest customer is OneWeb,which has purchased flights for39 satellites. Last year, VirginGalactic won a 4.7 million Nasacontract to carry more than adozen small satellites into orbit.Firefly Space Systems and RocketLab won similar contracts.Stratolaunch Systems, a projectbacked by Microsoft co-founderPaul Allen and his companyVulcan Aerospace, also hopes tolaunch satellites from midair. It isbuilding a rocket-carrying aircraftin Mojave that, when completed,will have the largest wingspan ofany plane ever built.Caceres said he doesn’texpect all of the start-up launchcompanies to survive. “Many ofthem will fold,” he said. “As longas you have someone wealthy andyou’re not relying on attractingprivate investors, you have a muchbetter chance.” —Los AngelesTimes/TNS

6GULF TIMES Thursday, June 2, 2016COMMUNITYKirat celebrate their biggest festivalThree Qatar-based Nepalese organisations got together to celebrate the Kirat festival ofUbhauli recently. Kirat Rai Yayokkha (KRY), Sunuwar Service Society and Kirat YakthumChumling joined hands to mark the occasion. The programme was chaired by Amrit Rai,KRY president, and Siya Ram Chauwdary, the president of Nepal Nonresident Federationof Indigenous Nationalities-Qatar. More than 200 Nepalese expatriates attended theprogramme, most of them Kirat — the indigenous society inhabiting the eastern hills of Nepal.The programme featured the performances of three Qatar-based Kirat groups. Kirat YakthungChumlung performed a traditional Sakela Ubhauli dance, with a large number of Kirats ofvarying ages wearing traditional dresses and dancing together in a circle. The dance style isknown as Silli and reflects the different aspects of human life and human relation with nature.More than 20 KRY artistes then performed the Chandi dance. Lastly, Sunuwar Service Societyartistes performed the Jhakri dance at the programme. In their performance that lasted halfan hour, the artistes demonstrated farmers planting saplings and highlighting the importanceof crops to a farmer. Each artiste played a traditional instrument while performing.Text & Photos By Usha Wagle GautamMind Tune Toastmasters Club marks World No Tobacco DayMind Tune Toastmasters Club marked the World No Tobacco Day with a meeting where speakers highlighted health and other risks associated with tobacco use. The club members pledged tocontribute to spreading awareness on tobacco and its ill effects. Club chairman Mashood Thiruthiyad presided over the function. Thomas John, Rajesh VC, Nizamudheen SA, Thankamani Ravi, Abhijith,Shafi PC Palam, Noufal Murichandi, Shyam Mohan, Althaf Kettungal, Sameer, Muneera Basheer, and Suhana Waseem Raja spoke at the event.

Thursday, June 2, 2016GULF TIMES7COMMUNITYJapanese embassy donates books to KataraThe Embassy of Japan in Qatar, in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, has donated 46books to Katara Cultural Village for the first time. Well-known Japanese literature, such asthe novels written by Yasunari Kawabata, who won the Nobel Prize for literature were mainlyselected among the book collection. Japanese ambassador Shingo Tsuda also handed overan Encyclopaedia of Japan — translated into Arabic by Qatar University in co-operation withMarubeni Corporation — to Dr Khalid al-Sulaiti, the General Director of Katara. They alsodiscussed ways to strengthen further understanding of Japan and its culture.Dr al-Sulaiti expressed his gratitude to Ambassador Tsuda for the books and expressed hiswishes to further strengthen co-operation between the Embassy of Japan and Katara CulturalVillage, which in turn will enhance the friendly relations between Qatar and Japan.Pant4Paws Triathlon attracts large number of participantsGYMMITO Fitness Club, a leading Doha-based gym and fitness club owned by Fardan FahadAlfardan and located at Qanat Quartier at The Pearl-Qatar, sponsored the first annual Pant4PawsTriathlon. Hosted on a recent Friday morning, from 5:30am to 9am at the Intercontinental DohaHotel, the event was organised to help raise urgent funds for Paws Animal Welfare Society (PAWS),with each triathlete who participated donating QR500 with their entry.The Pant4Paws Triathlon consisted of three stages — swimming, biking and cross-fit, with eachstage lasting 40 minutes. Participants had the option to enter either as an individual or as pairs,and spent the morning sweating it out for a great cause.More than 40 people participated in the triathlon, and GYMMITO Fitness Club were pleased to joinas one of the event’s key partners, with Sara Fahad Alfardan, representative of GYMMITO, givingaway three top-end BMW mountain bikes to the three gold medallists on the day. These includeda Cruise M-Bike, a limited edition bike for the individual category winner as well as two CruiseM-Bikes to the couple teams who came in first place.Representatives from GYMMITO were on hand to support the participants, to take part in the day’sactivities and to also present the winners with their prizes. Pant4Paws was also supported by LiveLife Doha, Boot Camp Military Fitness, Red Bull, Qatar Living, The Intercontinental Doha Hotel.The GYMMITO Fitness Club will open its first gym next month with a soft launch during Ramadan.It is the first gym located in Qanat Quartier at The Pearl-Qatar and boasts five individual studios.The studios will host Les Mills and Zumba classes as well as spinning, CrossFit and multifunctionalsports classes. The gym is also equipped with a free weights section, two cardio circuits, two topof-the-line MILON training circuits, a protein and juice bar. GYMMITO will also be hosting fitness andhealth retreats in the country.

8GULF TIMES Thursday, June 2, 2016COMMUNITYPEC organises ‘Drama Galore’The Pakistan Education Centre organised its annual drama evening titled “Drama Galore”recently. Principal Nargis Raza Otho was the chief guest. Zoheb Khaja, business managerat British Council, attended as a special guest. A large number of parents and students alsoattended. Students from KG to Grade XI presented various plays at the event.The KG students’ play revolved around the Little Red Riding Hood, while the Junior Wingstudents enacted the Shakespearian play Hamlet. The Girls’ Wing students presented an Urdudrama titled Akbari and Asghari, while the Boys’ Wing presented a comedic skit titled Mindyour Language. They also enacted the popular English play Dr. Faustus.The final performance was again by the Boys’ Wing in the form of an Urdu play titled ChachaChhakkan in PEC.Workshop on leadership at DPS-MISDPS-Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS) recently hosted a workshop for students of Grades XI and XII to promote leadership skills. The chief guest was Quaiser Khalid IPS-Joint Commissioner Police(Mumbai). In his speech, he said, “True leaders don’t create followers, they create dynamic leaders.” To be a leader, he said, a person must have a deep-rooted commitment to the goal and strive hard toachieve it and make a difference. He advised students to stay firm in their morality, and to dream big but stay rooted. He challenged the students’ perception on leadership and helped them understandthe true meaning of it through his real life experiences. Dr Shaikh Mohd. Adil bin Arif, founder of the Qur’anic Research and Rehabilitation Centre, Hyderabad was the guest of honour.

Thursday, June 2, 2016GULF TIMES9COMMUNITYCritical reflections on new directionsin contemporary religionGU-Q Professor Patrick Laude’snew book is based on severalyears of research and reflectionin religious metaphysicsProfessor of Theology at GeorgetownUniversity in Qatar (GU-Q), PatrickLaude, has made a critical contributionto the understanding of religion inthe modern world with his book titledApocalypse des religions. Pathologies et dévoilementsde la conscience contemporaine (Apocalypseof Religions: Pathologies and Unveilings ofContemporary Religious Consciousness).“Religious consciousness is one of the mostsignificant factors, if not the most significant one,in the major turbulences through which the worldis going today,” said Professor Laude. “One of thecritical theses of the book is that religion has becomeunduly ‘ideologised’ and ‘psychologised’ out of a lossof attention to both the dimension of transcendenceand the sense of the sacred or divine presence.”Based on several years of research and reflectionin religious metaphysics, comparative religion, thecontemporary sociology of religion and the study ofnew religious movements, this book is published bythe renowned French publishing house L’Harmattan,which has included the title in its collection Theoria,besides works by major French philosophers andtheologians like Jean Borella and Françoise Bonardel.The book deals, in part, with the spiritual andintellectual crisis of the Muslim world, as well asthe positive contributions of traditional Islamicthought and spirituality. “But it is not specificallya book on the crisis of Islam,” explained the author,who critiques religious currents in the modernand post-modern contemporary context in thisvolume. “While religions have always had a sociopolitical dimension and psychological aspects, itcan be argued that most of what stands for religiontoday is simply religion as ideology and religion, orspirituality, as psychology.”The positive side of the analyses developed in thebook, he argues, is that these negative trends arehelping, by contrast, to unveil more essential andinterior aspects of religious phenomena. “There isa critical process of renewal going on amidst theturmoil and the ruins, although it is very much ‘a stillsilent voice’.”Professor Laude joined the faculty of GU-Q inThe book cover.2006, where he teaches courses in religious studies.Professor Laude’s scholarly interests and output liein comparative mysticism and metaphysics, poetryand mysticism, and Western representations andinterpretations of Islamic and Asian spiritual andwisdom traditions. A prolific writer, he is also theeditor-in-chief of the bilingual journal of interreligious studies Religions-Adyan, published by theDoha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue,as well as a regular chronicler for the French reviewUltreia.Dr Patrick LaudeFormer MESstudent graduatesfrom QAC withawardJassim Salim Chalangal, living in Qatar sincehe was three months old, has graduated fromQatar Aeronautical College (QAC) with the BestAcademic Student Award 2015-16. He also secureda Diploma in ATPL. Former student of MES IndianSchool and currently working at Qatar Airways,Chalangal says he wants to make Qatar proud ofhis achievements as he moves forward.

10 GULF TIMES Thursday, June 2, 2016COMMUNITYIAP marks World No Tobacco Day with a free health campIbn Ajayan Projects (IAP) observed the World No Tobacco Day by organising a free health camp at Plaza Mall in Asian Town on Tuesday. The five-hour-long camp started at 4pm, with people living inand close to the area learning about smoking and other health risks associated with tobacco. The organisers said they are planning to hold free medical camps on a monthly basis.SIS bags 21 medals in CBSE Qatar Cluster Taekwondo CompetitionShantiniketan Indian School won 3 gold, 4 silver and 14 bronze medals in the CBSE Qatar Cluster Taekwondo Competition organised at the Ideal Indian School recently. A total of 21 students fromthe school participated in the competition. Sushant Kumar Deep (class XI-A), Aniket Anil Nair (class XI-B), and Mohammed Reda Ibrahim (VII-i) have been selected to participate in the CBSE NationalTaekwondo Championship to be held in India.Dr KT Rabiulla receivesfirst-ever Pravasi RatnaAwardThe first-ever Pravasi Ratna Award was conferred on Dr KT Rabiullafor his humanitarian work from ANAND TV founders and viewersat Apollo Manchester theatre in the UK recently. Dr Rabiulla, whohappens to be from the Indian state of Kerala, started his businessempire in the Middle East with a single clinic in Saudi Arabia morethan three decades ago.Today the Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group has under its belt severalhigh-tech hospitals in the entire GCC, with over 800 doctors on theirpanels. It also has medical units in India, the UK and USA.People describe Rabiulla as a person who never forgets his past andhumble beginnings. His associates and peers talk about his selflessattitude and the charity work that he does in Kerala and elsewherein India. Malayalam film megastar Mammootty handed the award toDr Rabiulla.

Thursday, June 2, 2016GULF TIMES11COMMUNITYMOTORINGLEGEND IN THE MAKING: Ferrari took the overall International Engine of the Year Award, with the twin-turbo V8 that powers the 488 GTB, 488 Spider and, with a slightly different displacement, theCalifornia T.Ferrari takes record number of prizes atInternational Engine of the Year AwardsFerrari has received a recordnumber of awards at theInternational Engine of the YearAward ceremony, held at theEngine Expo 2016 in Stuttgart,this morning.With 63 jurors from mo

Jun 02, 2016 · Magical City by Lizzie Mary Cullen 4. Qatar Entertainer 2016 by The Entertainer 5. Tropical Wonderland by Millie Marotta 6. Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta 7.