Dubai Unveils World's Biggest Fountain

Dubai launches the Palm Fountain in a bid to break a Guinness World Record as the worlds' largest fountain, at Palm Jumeira on October 22, 2020. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)
Dubai launches the Palm Fountain in a bid to break a Guinness World Record as the worlds' largest fountain, at Palm Jumeira on October 22, 2020. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)
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Dubai Unveils World's Biggest Fountain

Dubai launches the Palm Fountain in a bid to break a Guinness World Record as the worlds' largest fountain, at Palm Jumeira on October 22, 2020. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)
Dubai launches the Palm Fountain in a bid to break a Guinness World Record as the worlds' largest fountain, at Palm Jumeira on October 22, 2020. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP)

With multicolored lights and jets of water blasting into the night sky, the United Arab Emirate's newest attraction set a world record on Thursday as the largest fountain ever.

Located at The Pointe in Dubai's waterfront Palm Jumeirah area, the glitzy Palm Fountain was unveiled in a launch that was live-streamed around the world.

The fountain spans over 14,000 square feet (1,300 square meters) of sea water, according to Gail Sangster, asset director at Nakheel Malls, the developers behind the fountain. She said it features 128 super shooters reaching up to 105 meters (344 feet) in height.

The Palm Fountain was crowned the Guinness World Record holder for the world's largest fountain, stealing the title from the Banpo Moonlight Rainbow Fountain in South Korea.

"GWR is delighted to officially see The Palm Fountain breaking the title of the Largest fountain," Shaddy Gaad, Senior Marketing Manager at Guinness World Records said in a statement.

"This fountain is an example of another milestone in Dubai's architectural achievements," it said, adding that Guinness was declaring it "Officially Amazing."

Adorned with over 3,000 LED lights, Dubai's only multicolored fountain, designed with color and brightness controls, will be open to the public all year round.

It will show three-minute dancing water displays set to music, running every 30 minutes.



Private European Aerospace Startup Completes 1st Test Flight of Orbital Launch Vehicle

In this photo taken from video provided by Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media, Isar Aerospace test rocket "Spectrum" explodes felling back down after the launch at Andoya Spaceport in Nordmela, on Andøya island, Norway, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media via AP)
In this photo taken from video provided by Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media, Isar Aerospace test rocket "Spectrum" explodes felling back down after the launch at Andoya Spaceport in Nordmela, on Andøya island, Norway, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media via AP)
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Private European Aerospace Startup Completes 1st Test Flight of Orbital Launch Vehicle

In this photo taken from video provided by Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media, Isar Aerospace test rocket "Spectrum" explodes felling back down after the launch at Andoya Spaceport in Nordmela, on Andøya island, Norway, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media via AP)
In this photo taken from video provided by Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media, Isar Aerospace test rocket "Spectrum" explodes felling back down after the launch at Andoya Spaceport in Nordmela, on Andøya island, Norway, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Isar Aerospace, Photo Wingmen Media via AP)

A rocket by a private European aerospace company launched from Norway on Sunday and crashed into the sea 30 seconds later.
Despite the short test flight, Isar Aerospace said that it successfully completed the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle by launching its Spectrum rocket from the island of Andøya in northern Norway.
The 28-meter-long (92-foot-long) Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle specifically designed to put small and medium satellites into orbit. The rocket lifted off from the pad at 12:30 p.m. (1030 GMT) Sunday and flew for about a half-minute before the flight was terminated, The Associated Press quoted Isar as saying.
“This allowed the company to gather a substantial amount of flight data and experience to apply on future missions,” Isar said in a statement. “After the flight was terminated at T+30 seconds, the launch vehicle fell into the sea in a controlled manner.”
Video from the launch shows the rocket taking off from the pad, flying into the air and then coming back down to crash into the sea in a fiery explosion.
The launch was subject to various factors, including weather and safety, and Sunday's liftoff followed a week of poor conditions, including a scrubbed launch on March 24 because of unfavorable winds, and on Saturday for weather restrictions.
“Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success,” Daniel Metzler, Isar’s chief executive and co-founder, said in the statement. “We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System.”
The company had largely ruled out the possibility of the rocket reaching orbit on its first complete flight, saying that it would consider a 30-second flight a success. Isar Aerospace aims to collect as much data and experience as possible on the first integrated test of all the systems on its in-house-developed launch vehicle.
Isar Aerospace is separate from the European Space Agency, or ESA, which is funded by its 23 member states.
“Success to get off the pad, and lots of data already obtained. I am sure @isaraerospace will learn a lot," ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher posted on X. "Rocket launch is hard. Never give up, move forward with even more energy!”