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Day: 18 May 2022

Venturi: flying the Monaco flag in space

by: Stephanie Horsman
18/05/2022

Monaco-based Venturi Group, headed by Gildo Pastor, can count space exploration to its already forward-thinking vision, with its newest entity, Venturi Lab, poised to design and build mobility solutions capable to handling the extreme conditions found on the Moon and Mars.

After two decades of perfecting electric vehicles on Earth, the Venturi Group is looking to the heavens for its next venture. Using the expertise and experience they have culled over the years, the company has expanded to the creation of durable, reusable space vehicles via their new entity, Venturi Lab, based in Switzerland.

Co-founded with Dr Antonio Delfino, former Head of the Chemistry and Physics Department and Fellow at Michelin, Pastor’s vision has extended beyond the Earth-based into the design and manufacture of people-movers suitable for use in space.

To bring the necessary parts needed together, Pastor has created a partnership with Venturi Astrolab in California. In this capacity, engineers from Venturi Monaco, Venturi North America and Venturi Lab will work together to build batteries and use materials that can withstand and function at very low temperatures, create solar panels, fashion deformable wheels, build electric vehicle control systems and incorporate the integration of human factors for planetary rovers.

“Since 2001, we have been creating high-performance two-and four-wheel vehicles – and even tracked vehicles – that can operate at -50° C or up to 549 km/h depending on the model,” said Pastor. “Today, I am putting our expertise and resources in the service of space research, a field where excellence is the norm. I want to fly the Monegasque flag ever higher.”

The Venturi Lab

Venturi’s aspirations are definitely aiming for the stars. Basing the designs on what is known of the harsh conditions on the Moon and Mars, they are developing technologies that will see their rovers heading to space with the upcoming NASA and SpaceX lunar missions.

“Relying on its strategic partners across the Atlantic, Venturi Astrolab hopes to supply its vehicles to NASA,” said the company in a press release. “For its part and in parallel, Venturi Lab is working with Thales Alenia Space in France and Beyond Gravity, formerly known as RUAG Space, in Zurich, Switzerland. These collaborations will enable Venturi Lab to test new space technologies and present them to the European Space Agency (ESA). Over the long term, Venturi Lab also aims to invent technologies that will help to reduce land-based, maritime and atmospheric pollution.”

The first breakthroughs and achievements of the new venture will be forthcoming in the coming months.

 

 

Photos source: Venturi Group

 

 

 

 

New ambassadors: Guinea-Bissau, Spain, Indonesia, and Ecuador

by: Stephanie Horsman
18/05/2022

Monaco welcomed four new Ambassadors to town this week, given a warm reception by first the Prince, then by the Minister for External Relations and Cooperation, who treated them to lunch.

A luncheon was held on 17th May at the Hermitage Hotel hosted by Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Minister for External Relations and Cooperation, to meet Monaco’s latest round of new Ambassadors, hailing from Guinea-Bissau, Spain, Indonesia, and Ecuador. The lunch followed a morning meeting with Prince Albert II who received their Creedence Letters.

A lawyer by training and a career diplomat specialising in international relations, Carlos-Edmilson Marques Vieira was the Permanent Delegate of Guinea-Bissau to UNESCO. Since 2017, he has been Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative of Guinea-Bissau to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

With a degree in law, Victorio Redondo Baldrich began his diplomatic career in 1991 at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Counsellor for Political Affairs at the Spanish Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 2000 then posted as the Permanent Representation of Spain to the EU in Brussels, he was recently Spanish Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Mohamad Omar served as Chief of Staff in the Secretariat of the Vice President of Indonesia since 2011. Previously, this diplomat had many experiences at the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and posts abroad including to Brussels, Geneva, and Beijing, before becoming Ambassador to Italy from 2009 to 2011.

Trained as an agricultural engineer, Oscar José Orrantia Vernaza has had several careers in the private sector in the fields of industry, agriculture and banking. In 2021, he was made Ambassador of Ecuador to France.

 

Photo from left to right: Carlos-Edmilson MARQUES VIEIRA, Ambassador of Guinea-Bissau; Mohamad OEMAR, Ambassador of Indonesia; Isabelle BERRO-AMADEÏ, Government Counsellor-Minister for External Relations and Cooperation; Laurent ANSELMI, Head of Cabinet of H.S.H. the Prince; Oscar José ORRANTIA VERNAZA, Ambassador of Ecuador and Victorio REDONDO BALDRICH, Ambassador of Spain. © Stéphane Danna – Communication Department

 

 

 

Man-made tide pools in Port of Fontvieille a success

by: Stephanie Horsman
18/05/2022

Artificial tide pools were created in 2019 at water level in front of the Fontvieille Port as part of the government’s ongoing ecological restoration programme. The results so far have been encouraging.

Tide pools can be likened to underwater rain forests in that they harbour a huge number of plant and animal species, with each playing an important role. Seaweeds, small crabs, anemones, small fish, mussels and many other creatures can make a tide pool their home.

As such, the Department of the Environment installed five tide pool-esque riprap reefs in Fontvieille’s port back in 2019. Since then, they have been monitored to ensure their environmental effectiveness, and the first results have just been released, showing the colonisation of several species by mere sight checks.

ECOncrete and the Monaco Department of the Environment worked together to install a set of coastal armour units along the Port’s rocky riprap. They add structural support to the riprap, while creating an intertidal habitat that’s absent from traditional rubble mound revetments and breakwaters. Initial monitoring results show significant ecological differences between ECOncrete technologies and control rock plots, including multiple invertebrate, fish, and algae species, according to the manufacturer.

A biological monitoring session with an. “Awareness panel” was held on 18th May at the Jean Charles Rey dyke, where they located and explained the interest of these riprap reefs as part of the restoration programmes Clean Ports and Clean Ports Active in Biodiversity.

Photo: L Aquilina – Environmental Department

 

Roca Team learn play-off opponents

by: Luke Entwistle
18/05/2022

The Betclic Elite regular season was wrapped-up on Tuesday. AS Monaco Basketball’s defeat against Cholet (92-85) was ultimately inconsequential to the final ranking, as they prepare to face Strasbourg in the play-offs.

Having collapsed in the third-quarter against Limoges and then magnificently risen from the ashes in the fourth, Monaco couldn’t quite pull off the unthinkable against Cholet despite a late rally.

With the play-offs in mind, Donata Motiejunas and Dwayne Bacon didn’t make the trip, although the experienced Mike James and Will Thomas were both in the starting five. Truthfully, the Roca Team were but a bystander in La Meilleraie; the night belonged to Cholet, who in recent weeks have risen up the table in a manner not dissimilar to Monaco’s Euroleague trevails, to clinch the final play-off spot.

Cholet began like a team that, unlike the Principality side, had something to play for. Spurred-on by their home fans, they took an early lead. Monaco hit back in the second-quarter, although neither side could pull away. Thomas’ two free-throws before the half-time buzzer gave the away side a slender lead (42-40).

The match was decided on the return from the dressing rooms. Just as they had over the weekend, the Roca Team were absent in the third-quarter and were duly punished for it. Conceding 30-points, whilst scoring just 14 of their own, they had a mountain to climb in the fourth-quarter, and unlike in recent weeks, they couldn’t make it to the summit.

Seven consecutive points from James sparked a miniature revival, but Monaco couldn’t stop leaking points, making the 12-point gap a difficult one to close. Cholet ran out deserved winners (92-85) as the home fans invaded the court at full-time to celebrate their first qualification to the play-offs for 10 years.

As manager Sasa Obradovic said recently, first place looked unrealistic and second-place looked assured. So it played out. Monaco finished second and will now play Strasbourg, who beat them in overtime in the French Basketball Cup in March.

A difficult task therefore awaits Monaco, but one that they will go into as favourites. The best-of-three tie kicks off at the Salle Gaston Medecin next Wednesday.

 

Photo source: AS Monaco Basketball

 

 

 

Racing stars rally for charity football match

by: Luke Entwistle
18/05/2022

Francesco Totti is the latest blockbuster name to be confirmed for next Tuesday’s World Stars Football Match, joining a whole grid’s worth of Formula 1 greats, both past and present.

The match will take place at the Stade Louis II, and the build-up to the star-studded event is only intensifying. AS Roma legend Francesco Totti, who made 619 appearances for the Italian club, as well as winning the World Cup with the Italian national side, is the latest to join the AS Star Team for the Children MC, managed by Claudio Ranieri and current France manager Didier Deschamps.

Joining Totti will be team captain Prince Albert II, Louis Ducruet, AS Monaco legends Jerome Rothen and Ludovic Giuly, two-time Monte-Carlo Masters winner Stefanos Tsitsipas, Nico Rosberg, ROKiT Venturi Racing team principal Jérôme d’Ambrosio and many more.

For the F1 Drivers Team, almost the entire 2022 grid will be present, including current World Champion Max Verstappen and the current Monégasque Championship leader Charles Leclerc. The latter also featured in the Fight Aids Cup back in January.

The event will open the 79th Formula 1 Grand Prix week and the funds raised will go towards helping children in need all over the world. Speaking before the event, Totti said, “I am proud to be a part of this team and this charity event. I have always made every effort so that football and sport can help children and new generations all over the world. It will be a great joy for me to become part of Prince Albert II of Monaco’s team and play a game that represents these values.”

Mauro Serra, AS Star Team for the Children MC Executive President added, “This year is very important because we celebrate 30 years of our association and we will play this unique game for the 29th time.”

The event is free to attend for U14s provided they are accompanied by an adult. Tickets go on sale from Saturday, and can be purchased at the Stade Louis II Stadium ticket office from 09:00-18:00 up until game day, with prices ranging from €12-15 for adults.

The event is a great opportunity to watch the stars of football and F1 come together, as the build-up to one of the most important dates in the Monégasque calendar begins, and does so for a positive, charitable cause.