Etihad pilot takes his flying dreams to new level by joining Nasa ‘journey to Mars’
Emirati airline pilot Shareef Al Romaithi is swapping the skies for a 45-day mission to help global ambitions of sending astronauts to Mars.
He is part of a Nasa project placing volunteers in near-isolation in a simulation habitat in Houston, Texas, living like astronauts travelling to Mars.
Mr Al Romaithi, 39, a captain at Etihad Airways, will start his “journey to Mars” on May 10 when he and three crew members are locked inside the Human Exploration Research Analogue habitat.
They will “return to Earth” and emerge on June 24.
The UAE’s involvement in the programme was first revealed by The National in 2022.
In 2021 and 2022, Emirati astronaut Saleh Al Ameri undertook a similar mission in Moscow, spending eight months replicating deep-space travel conditions there.
Who is Shareef Al Romaithi?
Mr Al Romaithi has pursued an impressive career in the airline industry, with more than 16 years of experience as a pilot. He currently commands Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 aircraft as a captain for Etihad.
The Abu Dhabi native has accrued more than 9,000 flying hours, with a number of Airbus and Boeing jets included among aircraft types.
Mr Al Romaithi earned a doctorate in aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida at the age of 31 – becoming the youngest graduate to attain this qualification in aviation at the time.
In addition to flying, Mr Al Romaithi is an entrepreneur and founder of Madari Space. This aims to launch data centres into space to mitigate carbon emissions produced on Earth. It operates in the UAE’s economic zone dedicated to space.
“There are thousands of data centres across the globe, and they consume a lot of energy for cooling purposes,” Mr Al Romaithi told The National in an earlier interview.
“This emits carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases that exceed those of the aviation and shipping industries. By developing data centres in space, we can utilise unlimited power from the Sun to run the centres in a sustainable approach, while providing secure platforms for governments to save critical data.”
He said his company was at an early stage of developing data modules and is searching for launch providers.
What will his mission involve?
The Nasa project in the Human Exploration Research Analogue programme will help scientists study how humans adapt to isolation, confinement and remote conditions, so that the US space agency can one day send astronauts on deep-space missions.
The UAE is participating in this because it hopes to send its astronauts to Mars in the future – with goals including building a settlement by 2117.
Crew members will carry out scientific research and operational tasks throughout their simulated mission to the Red Planet, including a “walk” on the surface of Mars using virtual reality.
They will experience increasing communication delays lasting up to five minutes each way with Mission Control Centre as they “near” Mars.
Mr Al Romaithi will carry out six experiments for universities in the UAE, including the United Arab Emirates University, the Mohammed bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences and the American University of Sharjah.
This is the second group to take part in the project this year. The previous mission ended on March 18.
Two other missions will follow this year, with the final crew scheduled to leave the habitat on December 20.