UAE hits asteroid belt mission milestone

Hamed Abdulla Al Hashmi, EMA payload and lander manager, said: “This project demonstrates collaboration between the UAE Space Agency and Emirati space start-ups. Through this partnership, we are setting a new benchmark for space missions in the UAE, cementing the UAE’s position as a key player in this industry.”

The 13-year mission includes six years for spacecraft development and a seven-year trip through the main asteroid belt beyond Mars.

The MBR Explorer will seek to probe the origin and evolution of water-rich asteroids. It will also estimate the potential of using these asteroids as resources for future space exploration missions, determine the geologic history and volatile content of multiple main-belt asteroids, and measure their temperatures and thermophysical properties.

The explorer is named MBR after Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The UAE has also won its bid to host COSPAR 2028, one of the largest space science conferences in the world. This will be the first time the event, which promotes scientific research in space on an international level, will be held in the Arab world.

The event, which will be held in Dubai from the eighth to the sixteenth of July 2028, will bring together more than 3,000 researchers, experts, and scientists to present and discuss groundbreaking scientific research.

Sheikh Hamdan, the crown prince of Dubai, said: “The UAE has firmly established itself as a key hub for the global scientific community, particularly in the field of space research. This has further enhanced our nation’s role in fostering significant international cooperation in the space sector.”

As if to emphasise this, the UAE recently signed the “Satellite 813” agreement, which is the first space cooperation project between Arab countries.

The UAE Space Agency will fund and supervise the project while the National Space Science and Technology Centre in UAE University will lead the execution of the project in collaboration with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre and members of the Arab Space Cooperation Group.

The new satellite has been named “813” and refers to the date that marked the beginning of prosperity of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad under the reign of Al-Ma’mun.

The project is unique among hyperspectral satellites in terms of its weight, size and efficiency. The agency focused on several factors during its selection, including that the satellite be manufactured inside the country through scientific centres and laboratories.

This will help develop the local and Arab capacity in field of design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing as well as satellite ground operations and analysing the retrieved hyperspectral data.