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

Two years ago, the United Arab Emirates Space Agency announced an ambitious goal -

land a probe on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. This is expected to happen in more than 10 years.

What is known

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

In 2030 MBR Explorer will fly near the firstasteroid. In total, the probe must fly past six space bodies: Westerwald, Chimaera, Rockox, 2000 VA28, 1999 SG6 and 1998 RC76. After that, in 2034, he will land on Justitia.

The MBR Explorer will be equipped with a highresolution, infrared spectrometer, infrared camera and medium wave spectrometer. These instruments will be used to study the structure and geology of asteroids between Jupiter and Mars.