The UAE announced today (Monday) the launch of the Emirates Project to explore the asteroid belt.

The project is one of the UAE's national scientific efforts, and it is a research and knowledge project that includes the establishment of Emirati companies specialized in advanced space technologies and the training of Emirati cadres in various fields of space and its sciences, according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said in tweets on his Twitter account, “The Emirates project to explore the asteroid belt is our most important project in the field of space. The project lasts 13 years, 6 years of development and 7 years of exploration.” The vehicle will cut off.

During an event held at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi, the Emirates Space Agency announced the goals and full details of the UAE mission to explore the asteroid belt, stressing that it is the first mission of its kind ever to study asteroids in the main belt, which will launch during a 3-week launch window starting in March 2028.

The agency revealed that the explorer named Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid (MBR Explorer) will travel five billion kilometers past Mars to explore 7 asteroids and land on the last asteroid in 2034.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum confirmed that the Emirates project to explore the asteroid belt is a huge national scientific project, which includes the establishment of private Emirati companies in space technology and the establishment of a ground control center for deep space missions to run the mission and train new Emirati cadres in this sector, and the vehicle will travel 10 times as much as a probe. Hope.

The mission aims to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics, origins, formation, and evolution of asteroids, opening new horizons for understanding more about the formation of our solar system.

The mission measures the surface composition, geology, and interior density of several asteroids in the main asteroid belt, and measures temperatures and thermophysical properties on multiple asteroids to assess their surface evolution and history.