United Arab Emirates to launch bold asteroid mission in 2028
By Mike Wall about 5 hours ago
The nation's second interplanetary effort will visit seven different asteroids.
An artist's illustration of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the main destination of the United Arab Emirates' second interplanetary mission. (Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab)
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has set its sights beyond Mars. The nation today (Oct. 5) announced plans to launch an ambitious mission to the asteroid belt in 2028. It will be the UAE's second interplanetary effort; the first, the Emirates Mars Mission, launched an orbiter called Hope to the Red Planet in July 2020.
Hope is still going strong, and the coming asteroid mission will build on its successes, UAE officials said.
"Our goal is clear: to accelerate the development of innovation and knowledge-based enterprises in the Emirates," Sarah Al Amiri, chair of the UAE Space Agency, said in an emailed statement today.
"This can't be done by going steady-state; this requires leaps in imagination, in faith and the pursuit of goals that go beyond prudent or methodical," Al Amiri said. "When we embarked on the Emirates Mars Mission, we took on a six-year task that was [on] the order of five times more complex than the Earth-observation satellites we were developing. This mission is [on] the order of five times more complex than EMM."
More:
https://www.space.com/united-arab-emirates-asteroid-mission-2028?utm_source=notification