AN INDIAN-born billionaire believes his company’s mission to explore the Moon and enable humans to live there could lead to world peace.
In an interview with Eastern Eye, Naveen Jain revealed his bold plans to allow people to take a holiday on the Moon’s surface, buy space rocks and use its water and minerals to power the Earth.
The US-based businessman’s company Moon Express is the first company to win approval from the US government for the mission to send an unmanned craft to explore the surface next year and beam images and video back to Earth.
His long-term goal is building a colony on the Moon for humans to live, similar to 2015 Hollywood film Martian where Matt Damon’s character survives on Mars by growing vegetables.
Jain, who was raised in Uttar Pradesh and now lives in Florida, said the metals and minerals the Moon has could see an end to conflicts over land.
The father-of-three, who has the largest private collection of meteorites in the world, said “Entrepreneurs could bring world peace. What do we fight over? We fight over land, water, energy.
“All we have to do is look up and see the abundance of land because we are a tiny blue dot in our own galaxy. There are billions of galaxies. It’s a matter of technology making it possible to access this land. It is a matter of converting it, once you can get access to this energy there will be no scarcity.
“What if you are able to build a solar power above the clouds to microwave the energy down so there is an abundance of fresh water and energy on the Earth – if that does not bring world peace, I don’t know what will.”
Jain has launched numerous companies since arriving in the US with five dollars in his pocket in the 1980s. He was an executive for the Microsoft software giant for seven years before setting up firms in the telecoms, internet, healthcare and space industry.
The entrepreneur founded Moon Express in 2010 and the company received a boost last year when president Barack Obama signed a law that will allow it to own any minerals that it takes during its space missions.
Jain said the Moon’s minerals are worth trillions of US dollars and he has a waiting list of customers wanting to have their ashes scattered on the surface, which would cost them between $5 and $8 million.
He said there are a string of revenue streams it can focus on to fund its ambition of creating a lunar city, including charging people to put their footprint on the surface.
“In the short-term, to fund the long-term ambition of colonies, we will also possibly bring the moon rocks which are more valuable than any diamond. Everyone gives someone a diamond. If you love her enough, give her the moon – don’t promise her the moon, give me the moon.
“The second phase is a honeymoon, taking your ‘honey to the moon’, not a honeymoon in Hawaii or Paris. The Moon has a tremendous amount of water, it means hydration, oxygen rocket fuel, fuel for humanity. We can power this planet for generations to come.”
The 57-year-old added: “When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, if he asked people what they would like to do, not a single person would have said throwing birds at pigs, which is what everyone is doing with Angry Birds.
“We have yet to think about the Angry Birds or Pokemon Go of the moon. We may think of them as bizarre, but that’s exactly what has captured people’s imagination.”
A model of the Moon Express. Credit Moon Express FacebookThe space race has been hotting up in recent years, with businessman Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX planning to organise space trips using reusable rockets. British businessman Richard Branson’s firm Virgin Galactic aims to offer tourist flights to orbit the Earth in the next five years.
The costs of a Moon landing have plummeted from around one billion dollars a decade ago. Jain said his mission in 2017 will be around $6-7 million and a trip to the Moon could one day be the price of a first class plane ticket.
He believes being given permission to launch the mission shifts the power from governments to entrepreneurs. “The best way I can describe why I got into this, to explore the resources of the moon, is rephrasing John F Kennedy: ‘We chose to go to the moon not because it’s easy, but because it’s a great business’.
“Landing on the moon is essentially to prove that a small group of people are now capable of doing things what were only possible by superpowers before. That shows that in the next coming decade, the superpowers are not going to be the countries like the UK, Germany or France; it is going to be the entrepreneurs that challenges their countries’ power.
“My dream is every entrepreneur watching that event happen will be inspired to find their own shot; finding a cure for cancer, Alzheimer’s, or the Zika virus. or transforming their society.”
Jain is not from a business background. His father was a public works department official in the city of Meerut in north India, while his sister and brother did a PhD in maths.
He said he always sets up a company in an industry where he has little knowledge in order to spark change. “My fundamental belief is once you become an expert in any field, you become an incrementalist,” Jain explained.
“You are only able to incrementally improve something by ten per cent. If you want to make more change, you have to look at the industry you know very little about so you are able to challenge the foundation that the experts take for granted.
“My first company was in mobile phones in the 1990s. We are talking about using the phones to pay and get coupons, these were transformational ideas because I had no idea what smartphones were going to look at.
“The next company was looking at information commerce, when everyone thought information on the internet was going to be free. We showed that if you are able to solve a problem people will pay for that information. My fifth company is in the healthcare business, transforming how people live without the need for medication.”
Another inspiration is his wife and three children, who are budding entrepreneurs. And Jain gave his wife a unique gift for a milestone anniversary too.
“On our 25th wedding anniversary, I gave my wife a moon rock in a pendant. That was one of the most amazing things she has seen.
“My oldest child started a business when he was 16, after graduating it was acquired. My daughter graduated from Stanford University [in California] and was on the board for women and business; she works for the United Nations in New York. My youngest is at Stanford.
“They are inspired by what entrepreneurship brings to the people, they are doing amazing things to change the trajectory.”
“It is about imagination, dream so big that people think you’re crazy. Dream big so what looks like science fiction today becomes science reality tomorrow.
“Having three wonderful children who have gone out to become entrepreneurs in their own right has been the biggest achievement. He concluded: “It is not about leaving a great country for our children but about leaving great children for our country.”
PAKISTAN’S army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Monday (7) rejected Delhi’s allegation that his military received active support from longtime ally China in its conflict with India in May.
The Indian Army’s deputy chief, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, said last week that China gave Islamabad “live inputs” on key Indian positions.
Singh did not elaborate on how India knew about the live inputs from China.
Regarding the possibility of China providing satellite imagery or other real-time intelligence, India’s chief of defence staff had said such imagery was commercially available and could have been procured from China or elsewhere.
The “insinuations regarding external support” are “irresponsible and factually incorrect”, Munir said in an address to graduating officers of the national security and war course in Islamabad, according to an army statement.
Pakistani officials have previously dismissed allegations of receiving active support from China in the conflict.
Beijing and Islamabad have longstanding close relations, with billions of dollars of Chinese investment in the country’s energy and infrastructure.
India’s relationship with China meanwhile was strained after a 2020 border clash that sparked a four-year military standoff, but tensions began to ease after the countries reached a pact to step back in October.
India and Pakistan used missiles, drones and artillery fire during the four days of fighting in May – their worst in decades – triggered by an attack in April on tourists in Indian Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, before agreeing to a ceasefire.
Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack in April.
Singh also added that Turkey provided key support to Pakistan during the fighting, equipping it with Bayraktar and “numerous other” drones, as well as “trained individuals”.
Ankara has strong ties with Islamabad, and had expressed solidarity with it during the clash, prompting Indians to boycott everything from Turkish coffee to holidays in the country.
Turkey’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the allegations.
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Christine Kangaloo awards Narendra Modi with the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago last Friday (4)
INDIA’S prime minister, Narendra Modi met Argentine president Javier Milei in Buenos Aires last Saturday (5), urging the expansion of New Delhi’s preferential trade deal with South America’s Mercosur bloc.
The bilateral talks with Milei were the latest in Modi’s whistle-stop diplomatic tour culminating in the summit of Brics emerging economies which began last Sunday (6) in Brazil.
Diplomats from both countries at the meeting, which included a lunch, decided to “deepen bilateral relations and commercial ties,” according to a statement from the Argentine presidency.
John Dramani Mahama welcomes Modi on his arrival in Accra last Wednesday (2)
India’s foreign ministry diplomat, Periasamy Kumaran, told reporters Modi “requested Argentina’s support in expanding the India-Mercosur preferential trade agreement.” The Mercosur regional trade bloc, comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, is seeking closer ties with Asian economies in the face of Trump’s global trade war.
“The two leaders discussed the necessity of diversifying and expanding bilateral trade” in sectors including defence, technology and health, said Kumaran.
They also touched upon cooperation in the energy sector, including gas and petrol, as well as lithium, a key mineral for the clean energy transition. Argentina is the world’s fifth largest producer of lithium, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Excellent meeting with president Javier Milei of Argentina,” Modi wrote on X of the leaders’ second bilateral talks.
“We have covered significant ground in our bilateral relations, but we agree that the journey ahead is even more promising!”
Modi last week visited Trinidad and Tobago which last Friday (4) bestowed its highest honour as the Indian prime minister seeks to strengthen New Delhi’s ties with the Caribbean and Latin America.
More than a third of the population in the country is of Indian descent.
President Christine Carla Kangaloo gave him the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago at a ceremony at president’s House in St Ann’s, just outside the capital Port of Spain – the first time a foreign leader was so honoured.
“This honour is a symbol of the deep and eternal friendship between our two countries,” Modi said, according to an official translation. Relations between India and Trinidad and Tobago date back to 1845, when indentured Indian labourers first arrived to work on sugar and cocoa plantations under British colonial rule, following the end of slavery.
Between 1845 and 1917, more than 140,000 labourers settled in the Caribbean nation. The Indian community is now the country’s largest ethnic group, at 35.4 per cent of the population of 1.4 million.
Modi described Kangaloo and prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar “the biggest brand ambassadors of this community.” “India and Trinidad & Tobago rose from the shadows of colonial rule to write our destiny of progress. Our nations stand tall as proud democracies and pillars of strength in the modern world,” Modi wrote on X.
“It’s high time we all work together to give the Global South its rightful seat at the high table.”
Modi last Thursday (3) visited Ghana, in a first by an Indian leader in three decades.
He outlined plans for deeper ties between India and Africa, as New Delhi increasingly vies for a stronger economic presence on the continent along with China and Russia.
South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Modi and China’s premier Li Qiang at the Brics summit last Sunday (6)
In a speech to Ghana’s parliament, Modi highlighted a major rail project that opened in the west African nation last year, financed by the India Export-Import Bank.
He also underlined his country’s expanding diplomatic development and business footprint in Africa.
“Over 200 projects across the continent enhance connectivity, infrastructure and Industrial capacity,” Modi said. On the political front he welcomed “the establishment of Ghana-India Parliamentary Friendship Society in your parliament”.
In a meeting last Wednesday (2), Modi and Ghanaian president John Mahama agreed to deepen security and mining ties.
The Indian prime minister also last Thursday called for a greater global diplomatic role for both his country and Africa, warning that “the world order created after the Second World War is changing fast”.
A FRESH parliamentary initiative to establish a dedicated Sikh regiment within the British Army has gained momentum in the House of Lords, with defence minister Lord Coaker expressing willingness to engage in further discussions about the long-debated proposal.
The issue was raised in the House of Lords on Monday (7) by Labour peer Lord Sahota, who asked whether there had been any progress on long-standing calls for a Sikh regiment.
"Given the loyalty of Sikh soldiers in both world wars, there has been talk of having a Sikh regiment in the British Army for a number of years," Lord Sahota said.
Minister of state at Ministry of Defence, Lord Coaker, responded positively, saying he was "quite happy to meet him to see what more we can do to recognise the contribution of soldiers such as Sikhs, and those of many other faiths as well."
He also referenced the upcoming VJ Day commemorations on August 15, noting it would be an appropriate time to reflect on wartime sacrifices, particularly those of Sikhs worldwide.
While no firm commitment was made to establish a regiment, the exchange represents the most encouraging governmental response to the proposal in recent years.
Sikhs have served in the British Army since the mid-1800s and became renowned for their martial traditions. During the First World War, over 100,000 Sikhs served in France, East Africa, and Gallipoli.
Despite being less than two per cent of British India's population, they comprised roughly 20 per cent of the Indian contingent. In the Second World War, more than 300,000 Sikhs participated in campaigns across North Africa, Italy, and Southeast Asia.
The proposal for a British Sikh regiment has been raised repeatedly in Parliament. In 2007, plans were dropped after the Commission for Racial Equality expressed concerns about potential segregation.
The debate was revived in 2015 when former defence secretary Nicholas Soames urged the government to overcome "political correctness" and honour Sikh military service.
Sikh community leaders have consistently argued they could easily recruit enough volunteers for a regiment, pointing to precedents such as the Scots, Welsh, and Irish Guards, and the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
Currently, around 160 Sikhs serve in the British Army. The Defence Sikh Network continues to celebrate Sikh military traditions and encourage recruitment from the community.
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Heat can also damage everyday items like sunglasses, suncream and vape devices
Experts urge motorists to avoid leaving certain items in vehicles during upcoming heatwave
Temperatures expected to rise above 30°C across large parts of the UK
Contraceptives and common medications can lose effectiveness in high heat
Heat can also damage everyday items like sunglasses, suncream and vape devices
Drivers urged to act as UK braces for extended heatwave
Drivers across the UK are being urged to remove a range of everyday items from their cars ahead of a predicted heatwave, with experts warning that the rising temperatures could pose both safety and health risks.
The Met Office has forecast a prolonged spell of hot weather, with temperatures expected to soar into the low 30s on Thursday and Friday. Much of the UK is likely to hit its regional heatwave threshold by the weekend, with this episode potentially affecting a wider area and lasting longer than previous hot spells.
While motorists are often aware of the dangers of leaving items like electronics or water bottles in hot vehicles, motoring specialists have highlighted a less commonly known risk — heat damage to contraception and medication.
Heat can reduce effectiveness of contraceptives
Experts from car dealership group Dick Lovett have warned that items such as birth control pills and condoms should not be left inside cars during hot weather. The interior of a vehicle can act like a greenhouse, with temperatures increasing by up to 50% in just an hour, even when the car is parked in the shade.
Most hormonal contraceptives, including the pill, need to be stored at temperatures between 20-25°C to remain effective. Exposure to extreme heat can degrade the active ingredients, reducing their ability to prevent pregnancy.
Similarly, condoms can be weakened by high temperatures, as heat may damage the latex or cause it to dry out, increasing the risk of breakage during use.
Drivers who store spare contraceptives in their glove box or handbag for emergencies are advised to remove them during heatwaves and follow the storage guidelines provided on the packaging.
Medicines and other everyday items also at risk
Alongside contraceptives, many commonly used medicines are also vulnerable to heat damage. Items such as inhalers, insulin, antibiotics, and other prescription medications can lose potency if stored in high temperatures for too long.
To prevent any potential health complications, drivers should remove all medication from their vehicles during hot weather and keep them in cool, temperature-controlled environments.
Other items to avoid leaving in cars during a heatwave include:
Suncream (can degrade or leak)
Vape devices (pose fire risk)
Sunglasses (can warp or become brittle)
Fizzy drinks (risk of explosion or container damage)
By taking a few simple precautions, motorists can reduce health and safety risks and avoid damage to personal belongings during the UK’s latest summer heatwave.
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The Royal Mail logo is seen on the side of a van as the UK government clear a 3.57 billion pound takeover offer by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in London, December 16, 2024. (Photo: Reuters)
MEDIA regulator Ofcom has set new minimum delivery standards for Royal Mail and revised existing targets in an effort to reduce delays. It also announced a review into pricing and affordability, amid concerns over rising stamp prices.
Royal Mail, which has faced fines of around $20 million over the past two years for not meeting delivery targets, is currently trying to modernise operations and focus more on parcel deliveries.
“Urgent reform is needed for the universal service to survive,” Ofcom said in a statement. The regulator said the revised delivery goals could help Royal Mail save up to £425 million ($578.3 million).
Under the new rules, Royal Mail must ensure that 99 per cent of mail is delivered no more than two days late. Ofcom has also adjusted the targets for next-day and three-day deliveries. The target for First Class mail will now be 90 per cent delivered the next day, down from 93 per cent. For Second Class mail, the target has been lowered from 98.5 per cent to 95 per cent within three days.
From July 28, Royal Mail will be permitted to deliver Second Class letters on alternate weekdays, while still aiming to meet the three-working-day delivery target, Ofcom said.
“Our research suggests that affordability and reliability are more important to people than speed of delivery, but they value having a next-day service available for when they need to send the occasional urgent item,” the regulator said.
Ofcom said it would launch a consultation on its pricing and affordability review next year.
In response to the announcement, Martin Seidenberg, Group CEO of Royal Mail’s parent company International Distribution Services, said the company welcomed the new measures.
“It is good news for customers across the UK as it supports the delivery of a reliable, efficient and financially sustainable universal service,” he said in a statement.