Dubai Number Plate Sells for Record $14.9 Million at Auction

Expensive car plate broke a record at a charity auction (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Expensive car plate broke a record at a charity auction (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Dubai Number Plate Sells for Record $14.9 Million at Auction

Expensive car plate broke a record at a charity auction (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Expensive car plate broke a record at a charity auction (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A Dubai charity auction dedicated to support the inauguration of a Ramadan sustainable food aid endowment fund raised Dh97.9 million ($26.6 million).

The auction hit a record by selling the ‘P 7’ plate, the most expensive license plate in the world for Dh55 million ($14.9 million), breaking the former record of Dh52.2 million ($14.2 million).

Dubai's “Most Noble Numbers” charity auction for special numbers, held on April 8, and whose proceeds will go to the One Billion Meals campaign, managed to sell 35 special numbers including 14 license plates, 10 Du phone numbers, and 11 Etisalat phone numbers.

The proceeds from the auction will go to the “One Billion Meals" campaign aimed at finding sustainable solutions for hunger and malnutrition in vulnerable communities, and to implement targeted programs, projects and initiatives within systematic plans and specific targets to eradicate hunger.

The charitable bids on vehicle plate numbers hit a total of Dh91.5 million ($24.9 million), and the Etisalat phone numbers raised about Dh3.3 million ($904,500), while Du numbers amounted to Dh3 million ($818,800).

According to the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, the “Most Noble Numbers” charity auction supporting the One Billion Meals campaign, offers philanthropists an innovative opportunity during the Holy Month of Ramadan to contribute to establishing a food safety network that starts in the UAE and serves the vulnerable categories in unfortunate communities.

The One Billion Meals campaign, held under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, aims to revive the endowment as a development tool for societies, ensure the sustainability of giving, and contribute to global hunger eradication efforts, considered one of the most significant development goals.

Alongside the charity auction, the One Billion Meals campaign has five other contribution outlets: the official website, call center, shareholding in the endowment, and bank transfers. The campaign also receives donations via text messages.



Soviet-Era Spacecraft Is Expected to Plummet to Earth This Weekend after 53 Years

This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)
This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)
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Soviet-Era Spacecraft Is Expected to Plummet to Earth This Weekend after 53 Years

This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)
This photo provided by researcher Jane Greaves shows the planet Venus, seen from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Akatsuki probe in May 2016. (J. Greaves/Cardiff University/JAXA via AP)

A half-ton Soviet spacecraft that never made it to Venus 53 years ago is expected to fall back to Earth this weekend.

Built to land on the solar system's hottest planet, the titanium-covered spacecraft may survive its fiery, uncontrolled plunge through Earth's atmosphere, predicted to occur on Saturday. But experts said it likely would come down over water, covering most of the world, or a desolate region.

The odds of it slamming into a populated area are “infinitesimally small,” said University of Colorado Boulder scientist Marcin Pilinski.

“While we can anticipate that most of this object will not burn up in the atmosphere during reentry, it may be severely damaged on impact,” Pilinski said in an email.

By Friday, all indications pointed to a reentry early Saturday morning, US Eastern Time, give or take several hours. While space debris trackers around the world converged in their forecasts, it was still too soon to know exactly when and where the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 would come down. That uncertainty was due to potential solar activity and the spacecraft’s old condition. Its parachutes were expected to be useless by now and its batteries long dead.

Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek estimated the impact speed at 150 mph (242 kph) if the spacecraft remains intact.

The Soviets launched Kosmos 482 in 1972, intending to send it to Venus to join other spacecraft in their Venera program. But a rocket malfunction left this one stuck in orbit around Earth. Gravity kept tugging on it and was expected to finally cause its doom.

Spherical in shape, the spacecraft — 3-foot (1-meter) across and packing more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms) — will be the last piece of Kosmos 482 to fall from the sky. All the other parts plummeted within a decade.

Any surviving wreckage will belong to Russia under a United Nations treaty.