The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has revealed intentions to send a spaceship to investigate the solar system’s main asteroid belt, marking the oil-rich nation’s newest space effort following the successful Mars mission in 2020. The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt intends to design and deploy a spacecraft to examine numerous asteroids in the future years. The mission is a continuation of the Mars mission. The spacecraft’s objectives include giving a comprehensive image of the Martian atmosphere and its layers, as well as delivering answers to critical concerns concerning the planet’s temperature and composition. If the mission is successful, the spacecraft will travel at speeds of up to 33,000 kilometers (20,500 miles) per hour for seven years to examine six asteroids.
The project will culminate with the deployment of a landing craft onto a rare “red” asteroid that scientists believe may carry clues to the origins of life on Earth. The study of the origins of organic compounds and the existence of water on red asteroids might throw light on the origins of Earth’s water and provide important insights into the origins of life on our planet. This is a big achievement for the UAE Space Agency, which follows the successful launch of the Amal probe to Mars. The MBR Explorer, named after Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, will visit Venus and Mars as well as the asteroid belt. The ship will travel 150 kilometers to the celestial boulders.
It will make its last push to Justitia, the seventh and final asteroid, in October 2034, and deploy a lander. Justitia is one of the asteroid belt’s two known red asteroids, and its surface may contain organic molecules. The MBR Explorer will use a landing craft constructed by private UAE start-up enterprises to research the surface of Justitia. This might pave the way for resource extraction from asteroids, long-term human trips in space, and even the UAE’s grandiose ambition of establishing a Mars colony by 2117.
