A Business Trip to Dubai
Sometimes, business trips take me to the most beautiful countries filled with history and culture.
If you follow me closely on Instagram @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen some of my photos from my recent trip to Dubai, on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates. Joining me were my longtime friends and colleagues, Kevin Sharkey and Hannah Milman. Our main purpose was to participate in the Methuselah Foundation-sponsored Deep Space Food Challenge Panel at the International Astronautical Congress, held for the first time in the UAE since the IAC's establishment in 1950. We flew Emirates Airlines to Dubai and stayed at the beautiful hotel, Jumeirah Al Qasr. In the short time we were there, we toured the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, walked through one of the area's souk markets where they sell lavish gold jewelry, handwoven fabrics, traditional perfumes, spices, and souvenirs, drove through the city of tall skyscrapers, and ate at several delicious restaurants. It was a very packed four-days, but we had a wonderful time.
Here are some photos, enjoy. These photos were taken by me and Kevin Sharkey - follow his Instagram @seenbysharkey. And don’t forget, Daylight Saving Time ends tomorrow morning, November 7th, so set the clocks back one hour before going to bed tonight. Those living in participating states across the US will get an extra hour of sleep. Daylight Saving Time occurs in many states and territories except Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Island.
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- We flew aboard Emirates Airlines – the largest airline and one of two flag carriers of the United Arab Emirates. The entire flight took 12-and-a-half hours, but it was very comfortable ride with excellent service and accommodations – see my Instagram post on @MarthaStewart48.
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- Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf. There is always so much growth here. I last visited with my family in December 2017 – it has developed even more since then.
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- We took many photos of the interesting buildings. On the left are The Jumeirah Emirates Towers. They’re the “twins” of Dubai’s skyline — two buildings that appear almost identical. Jumeirah Emirates Tower One is the taller of the pair at about 1163 feet. Its 54 floors house mostly offices. Tower Two stands at 1014 feet and serves as a luxury hotel. The two buildings are topped with distinctive equilateral triangles and a spire. Designed by architect Hazel Wong, the Jumeirah Emirates Towers were the tallest skyscrapers to be designed by a woman upon their completion in 2000.
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- This is one of Dubai’s newer attractions – the Dubai Frame. The two towers are connected by a 1000 square foot bridge, which has a glass panel in the middle. It was designed by award-winning architect Fernando Donis, who also designed Dubai’s Porsche Design Towers, and the Dubai Renaissance Tower. This giant frame is located in Zabeel Park and was carefully chosen to give visitors the best view of both old and new Dubai.
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- This is Dubai’s Museum of the Future – a technology-themed museum located at the Madinat Jumeirah. The facade is decorated with Arabic calligraphy, including quotes from the Prime Minister of UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. All windows are designed within the characters.
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- This sail-shaped hotel is the Burj Al Arab. It sits on its own manmade island in Dubai’s harbor. It is accessed via its own helipad near the roof at a height of 689 feet above ground.
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- The Jumeirah Grand Mosque is a landmark structure in Dubai. Designed in the Fatimid architectural tradition, the mosque is made from white stone and features a pair of minarets that frame a central dome. The Jumeirah Grand Mosque was a gift from the Late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the former Ruler of Dubai and father of the current Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It is said that it is the most photographed mosque in all of Dubai.
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- On our first full day in Dubai, we were given a private tour of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, the hub of where UAE’s space activities first started.
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- This is the KhalifaSat Earth Observation ground station antenna. It is made to receive the satellite communications and data back down on Earth. Equipped with the latest in space and imaging technology, KhalifaSat is a powerful imaging tool, more agile than its predecessors: the DubaiSat-1 launched in Kazakhstan in 2009 and DubaiSat-2 launched in Russia in 2013.
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- This mural behind me Shows the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who has been a strong supporter of the UAE space program.
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- We were able to see many of the control rooms. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre is a Dubai government organization which works on various space satellite projects, the Emirates Mars Mission, the Emirates Lunar Mission, and the UAE astronaut program.
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- This is the mission control and space operations room. Leading the tour is Amer Al Sayegh, who is the Senior Director of the Space Engineering Department at MBRSC. (Photo by Stephanie Wan, Methuselah Foundation)
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- This is called a clean room where they are assembling the next satellite mission: MBZ-sat. The clean room is where all components are assembled before they go into space to ensure there is no contamination.
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- Here I am with Robyn Gatens, Director for the International Space Station, and Mark Kirasich, Deputy Associate Administrator for Advanced Exploration Systems at NASA Johnson Space Center.
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- My main commitment on this trip was to speak at the Methuselah Foundation-sponsored fireside chat on the Deep Space Food Movement, focused on accelerating food technologies for Earth and future deep space missions. Other guest speakers included representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency, the United Nations, and private entities who are passionate about food innovation and sustainability. Hannah and I were honored to be part of the panel.
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- Afterwards, we stood for a few group press photos – it was a great discussion. The team received high praise for the quality of the talks and the diverse insights from all the guest speakers. We covered many topics including the historical impact of human exploration for advancing food technology and ways we could solve world hunger. Please go to deepspacefoodchallenge.org to learn more.
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- And here’s a throw back to a photo of me taken in 1996 – I have been interested in the foods of the future for many years and have had many discussions with renowned scientists and authors about the critical need for innovative food technologies to sustain people on Earth and in space.
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- In this photo I am joined by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir on my right and Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi on my left, the first two Emiratis selected in their Astronaut Program.
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- We also toured a Dubai Souk, where there is a large number of stores selling everything from clothes to textiles, souvenirs to food.
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- This shop was dedicated entirely to spices.
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- The displays were very neat and tidy.
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- At night, the lighted skyscrapers gave Dubai a whole new look.
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- This is our view looking up to the top of the Burj Khalifa. Rising 2,716.5 feet above ground level, the 160-story iconic tower is currently the tallest building in the world. Excavation for the project began in 2004 and the building officially opened to the public in 2010.
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- The Burj Khalifa puts on a light show featuring an LED system totaling more than 17 miles of LED lights. The lights are installed on all the fins of the southeast side of the skyscraper facing the lagoon.
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- To create this light show is more simple than it looks – a media file plays on a laptop connected to a “main brain” server, which, through a network of fiber optics works with the LED lights to display a particular color. There are about 1.2 million lights for each image.
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- Here’s a group photo of me, Hannah, and some of the members of the Methuselah Foundation – Stephanie Wan Deep Space Food Challenge Partnerships Advisor, Florina Gobel Communication Director, Rebecca Batterman Deep Space Food Challenge Business Strategy Advisor, Dane Gobel Deep Space Food Challenge Program Director, and Helene Papper, the Global Communications and Advocacy Director for the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development.
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- We couldn’t go to Dubai without meeting up with former colleague Ron Thomas. Ron was the Vice President of Human Resources for my company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. He’s been working here in the UAE for several years. Kevin, Ron and I had a great time catching up.
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- At the airport before flying back home, we came across a very interesting group of passengers – falcons. The trainers and their raptors were waiting for a flight to Pakistan for a falconry competition.
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- This is the number one champion falcon. A gorgeous bird with white and brown feathering. These birds of prey are hooded to keep them calm during travel. It was quite a sight to see before leaving Dubai. In all, it was a very interesting and informative trip abroad.
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