A UAE Space Agency employee stands next to the Hope probe, which reached Mars in February this year.
Credit: Emirates Space Agency.
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On October 5, the UAE Space Agency announced plans to send a probe to land on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid has not yet been selected, but once identified, the investigation will aim to gather compositional data from the asteroid to help better understand the origin and early evolution of the Solar System. The project’s current timeline includes a launch date of 2028, with the probe landing on the asteroid in 2033 after traveling 2.2 billion miles. The spacecraft’s flight path will include flybys near Venus and Earth that will use the planet’s gravitational force to gain enough momentum to reach its final destination in the main asteroid belt.
The head of the UAE Space Agency, Sarah Al Amiri, explained in an interview with The Associated Press that the knowledge gained from the UAE mission to Mars, Hope, has provided much-needed insight to help them prepare for their next asteroid mission. Currently, the UAE Space Agency has not announced an estimate of the cost of the mission, device payload, or landing site on the asteroid. However, we have announced that the project includes a partnership with the University of Colorado Atmospheric and Space Physics Laboratory. This mission will be the latest addition to the UAE’s space program which includes current Mars missions and future lunar missions planned for 2024. If successful, the UAE will gather valuable information about small objects that are remnants of the early stages of the history of the solar system. Sun. and will join the ranks of the European Federation, Japan and the United States, which have successfully landed a spacecraft on an asteroid or comet. Read more
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