UAE expected to launch ships to 7 asteroids

The UAE spacecraft will fly over 6 asteroids and bring the lander to the 53 km wide 7th asteroid..

Main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. (Picture: News9).

United Arab Emirates (UAE) target 7 different rocky celestial bodies on an ambitious mission to the asteroid belt. In an upcoming announcement at the Asteroid, Comet and Asteroid conference in Arizona in June, the UAE space agency revealed specific mission objectives. As a result, the mission will launch in 2028 and visit 7 main-belt asteroids, including 6 high-speed flybys en route to asteroid 269 Justitiɑ. Other asteroids on the list include: 10253 Westerwald, 623 Chimera, 13294 Rockox, 88055, 23871 and

Ѕafter arrival 269 ​​Justice, the spacecraft will deploy the lander to land on the surface. before, only and Rendezvous of Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAR) Shoemaker. NASA’s Japanese Hayabusa1 and Hayabusa2 probes managed to make a soft landing on the asteroid’s surface. The 53 km wide asteroid 269 Justitiɑ has a red color, possibly due to the existence of an organic compound called tholin which is abundant on Pluto and many other icy bodies on the outskirts of the solar system.

The spacecraft will arrive at 269 Justitiɑ in April 2034. If asteroids form on the outskirts of the solar system, the EU mission will provide a unique understanding of objects beyond Neptune. The scientific objective of the mission is to understand the origin and evolution of water-rich asteroids, thereby assessing their potential resource use.

The spacecraft will use solar electric propulsion for a six-year journey and take advantage of the gravitational pull of its flybys of Venus, Earth and Mars along the way. The United Arab Emirates will partner with the University of Colorado at Boulde, as in the previous Hope Mars mission. The Hope spacecraft is still orbiting Mars and recently probed Deimos, the smaller of the Red Planet’s two moons.

Article source: VnExpress