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Yousef Haddad

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PUBLISHED BY ICN PRESS

  • NASA’s Curiosity rover has reached 5,000 Martian days, or sols, on Mars.
  • The rover reached the milestone while studying a wind-formed ripple named Chocolatal on Mount Sharp.
  • Curiosity has now climbed more than 1,000 meters above its landing site in Gale Crater.
  • Navcam, Mastcam, and MAHLI are working together to read the ripple below the surface.

New Mars images by NASA show the Curiosity rover reaching 5,000 Martian days on the Red Planet. The count, known as sols, passed 5,000 on August 29, 2026. That total is more than 5,137 Earth days, because a day on Mars runs about 24.6 hours. Curiosity landed in August 2012. The NASA Curiosity rover has now worked on Mars for more than 14 years. Its original mission was planned for a much shorter run.

What the new image shows

Curiosity’s Right Navigation Camera, or Navcam, captured the featured frame on August 28, 2026, two sols before the milestone. The image shows a long, sweeping sand ripple named Chocolatal. Its crest sits in sharp light against the darker ground. NASA scientists want to know whether Chocolatal counts as a transverse aeolian ridge, or TAR. A TAR is a wind-formed ridge of sand, smaller than a dune. These ridges appear across the Martian surface. Scientists track them to map how wind works on Mars. The new Mars images by NASA give the team a fresh view of the ripple.

The rover did more than photograph the ripple. Curiosity drove one wheel into Chocolatal and cut a small trench. That trench lets the rover’s instruments study the material below the surface. The trench is small, but it exposes sand that the cameras could not see from the surface. Scientists can compare the buried sand with the crest on top. Close study like this helps show how wind moves grains on Mars today.

NASA Mars Images

New Mars images by NASA map the climb

The milestone also tracks distance climbed. Curiosity has risen more than 1,000 meters above its first position on the floor of Gale Crater. Mount Sharp rises about 5 kilometers above the floor of Gale Crater. For years, the rover has worked up the slopes of Mount Sharp, the mountain at the center of the crater. New Mars images by NASA record each step of that ascent. The layers on Mount Sharp hold clues about the planet’s past, and lower layers formed in wetter conditions long ago. Passing 1,000 meters and 5,000 sols came within days of each other. The two milestones together show how far Curiosity has traveled since 2012.

The first mission plan covered about two Earth years. Curiosity has now passed that point many times over. The rover runs on nuclear power, which lets it work through long Martian seasons. It drives short distances, studies rocks and sand, and drills for samples along the way. Each stop adds data about how Mars changed over billions of years.

NASA Mars

Three cameras on one ripple

Navcam took the milestone photo, but it is not the only camera at work. NASA is using Mastcam to build high-resolution mosaics of Chocolatal and the ripples nearby. The Mars Hand Lens Imager, called MAHLI, is taking a much closer look at the material. These Mars rover images will help scientists see layering and changes in grain size within the ripple. Grain size and layering can point to how strong the wind was and which way it blew. Curiosity sends images like this one back to Earth on a regular basis. The new Mars images by NASA add detail to a long record of the Red Planet.

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CBUAE base rate increase
  • UAE

The CBUAE base rate increase takes the UAE base rate to 3.9%, a quarter-point step up from 3.65% that landed on Thursday, September 17. It applies to the Overnight Deposit Facility, the tool the Central Bank uses to set a floor for short-term money in the country. The Central Bank also kept the cost of borrowing short-term liquidity at 50 basis points above the base rate across all standing credit facilities. For most people, the mechanics matter less than the direction. Rates went up. For anyone with a loan or savings account, that direction is what counts.

Why the Fed decides the UAE’s rate

Behind the CBUAE base rate increase sits a US Federal Reserve rate hike of the same size. The Fed lifted its Interest Rate on Reserve Balances by 25 basis points and moved its target range to 3.75% to 4%. Because the dirham-dollar peg fixes the currency at 3.6725 to the dollar, the Central Bank tracks US policy closely to hold that line steady. When Washington moves, Abu Dhabi tends to follow within a day or two. This was the first increase in the UAE rate cycle since 2023, and it reversed a cut made late last year that had taken the rate down to 3.65%. Markets had largely expected the shift, so the reaction at home was calm.

What it means for your home loan

Here is where the numbers reach the kitchen table. Changes in the base rate feed into EIBOR mortgage rates, the Emirates Interbank Offered Rate banks use to price home loans and other credit. If you hold a UAE variable-rate mortgage, your monthly payment could rise the next time your rate is reviewed. A homeowner carrying a large variable loan may pay several thousand dirhams more over a year. Fixed-rate borrowers sit in a calmer spot. Your rate stays put until the fixed term ends, so nothing shifts right away. When that term does end, the loan could be repriced at whatever rate applies then.

Who gains and who pays more

The CBUAE base rate increase does not land on every wallet the same way. Savers may see better returns if banks pass the increase into deposit products, which rewards anyone keeping cash aside. Businesses face the other side of the ledger. Firms carrying variable loans, especially in real estate, construction and SME financing, could see borrowing costs climb while energy and shipping bills already weigh on margins. The effect spreads slowly, through repricing dates and new credit rather than an overnight jump. Households and companies that planned ahead for tighter conditions will feel less of a jolt.

What to watch next

The Central Bank has little room to steer its own course while the peg holds. That keeps attention on the Fed and its next meeting, where policymakers will weigh inflation and jobs data before deciding whether more increases are coming. For UAE residents, the practical questions are close to home. Check whether your mortgage is fixed or variable. Ask your bank when your rate resets. If you are shopping for a loan, factor in that credit costs a little more than it did a week ago. Small steps, but they add up when rates are on the move.

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New Mars images by NASA
  • NASA
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Pre-approved home financing in Dubai
  • ADCB

Pre-approved home financing in Dubai picked up a new route this month for anyone eyeing an Ellington Properties home. The boutique developer has partnered with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank to offer financing that follows a buyer from reservation through handover, whether the unit is still under construction or ready to move into today.

Instead of applying for a mortgage after signing a sales agreement, an eligible buyer secures approval first. That approval travels with them through the milestone payments, construction updates and eventual handover that come with buying property in Dubai. Simple, in theory.

This is not an isolated move. ADCB struck a similar arrangement with Emaar Development in July, bundling mortgage approval directly into that developer’s off-plan sales process. Pairing with Ellington extends the same model to a second major Dubai developer, and signals a bank betting that pre-approved home financing in Dubai will keep pulling buyers toward developments where the paperwork is already half done.

Business Intelligence & News

  • UAE passport ranks first globally in 2026, recording a Mobility Score of 182 and worldwide access of 91.9 percent, per Passport Reports’ September ranking.
  • The score covers 128 visa-free destinations, 44 visa-on-arrival or simplified-entry destinations, and 10 reachable through an eTA.
  • Europe, the Gulf, and the Middle East each show 100 percent overall access for UAE passport holders.
  • Only 16 destinations remain visa-required, and the UAE itself ranks 91st out of 199 for inbound travel.
  • HOSPITALITY

How pre-approved home financing in Dubai works

Under the arrangement, ADCB and Ellington Properties Dubai buyers share a single digital application built for both off-plan and completed units. A dedicated relationship manager stays attached to the file from start to finish. Buyers are not shuffled between departments every time a payment milestone lands.

Off-plan purchases follow a specific structure. Eligible buyers can secure pre-approved financing covering up to 50% of a property’s value. That approval holds for 12 months and renews annually until the keys change hands. Dubai mortgage pre-approval usually means reapplying as construction milestones pass. This structure compresses that into one approval that carries a buyer through, year after year, until the building is complete. Construction timelines can stretch, and a tower meant to top out in 18 months sometimes takes 24. Annual renewal means a buyer’s financing plan does not lapse simply because a project runs long.

What the rates mean for buyers

Rate uncertainty is the usual complaint with early financing offers, since many are pegged to benchmarks that shift with the market. ADCB home loan rates on this program start at 3.49% per annum, fixed for three years. The bank is also waiving processing and valuation fees for a limited time, trimming the upfront cost of getting approved before construction even begins.

Three years of fixed pricing is a meaningful stretch in Dubai real estate financing. Buyers juggling handover payments alongside rent, or an existing mortgage, gain one less variable to plan around. A rate locked at signing does not move if the market tightens later.

A wider shift in Dubai property lending

Developers and banks across Dubai have leaned into bundled financing through 2026, pairing sales offices with in-house mortgage desks rather than leaving buyers to shop separately. The logic is consistent across these tie-ups. Get buyers pre-approved early, then keep them financed through a construction cycle that can run several years.

Ellington Properties, founded in Dubai in 2014, has built its reputation on design-led residential projects across Jumeirah Village Circle, Downtown Dubai and Palm Jumeirah. Linking that portfolio to ADCB’s mortgage arm gives the bank a direct channel into an active off-plan pipeline. It gives Ellington a financing partner its buyers can lean on instead of shopping the open market for a separate lender.

Pre-approved home financing in Dubai used to feel like a separate errand from choosing a unit. Off-plan property financing in Dubai buyers once treated as a background task, now sits inside the same conversation as picking a floor plan. For anyone weighing a reservation on an Ellington unit, the practical move is to ask about pre-approval before signing anything. A rate locked today, at 3.49% for three years, could look considerably better than whatever the market offers by the time a project reaches handover.

  • 3 min read

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