UAE wants to land a spacecraft on an asteroid between Jupiter and Mars

Two years ago, the United Arab Emirates Space Agency announced the ambitious goal of landing a probe on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. This is expected to happen in more than 10 years.

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The spacecraft will be called MBR Explorer. The UAE wants to land the probe on the asteroid Justitia, about 50km in diameter, as part of the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA), which is planned for 2028. Scientists from the UAE are searching for organic matter throughout the solar system. They believe there are organic molecules on the asteroid.

MBR Explorer will fly near the first asteroid in 2030. In total, the probe is to fly past six space bodies: Westerwald, Chimaera, Rockox, 2000 VA28, 1999 SG6 and 1998 RC76. It will then land on Justitia in 2034.

MBR Explorer will be equipped with a high-resolution camera, an infrared spectrometer, an infrared camera and a mid-wavelength spectrometer. These instruments will be used to study the structure and geology of the asteroids between Jupiter and Mars.

Source: space