The MBR Explorer is a planned
UAESA space probe
A space probe is an artificial satellite that travels through space to collect scientific data. A space probe may orbit Earth; approach the Moon; travel through interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land or fly on other planetary bodies; or ...
designed to journey to seven different
main belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
asteroids. Proposed under the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, it is named in recognition of the foundational role driving the creation and growth of the UAE Space Program played by
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم, links=no; ; born 15 July 1949) is the vice president, prime minister, and minister of defence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as the ruler of Dubai ...
, the vice president and the prime minister of the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at ...
.
The mission to explore the asteroid belt was announced by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency in May 2023, and the launch is planned for March 2028.
Similarly to their previous
Mars mission
Mars mission may refer to:
Space missions
* Exploration of Mars, or any mission to assist in this endeavour
** List of missions to Mars
*** List of Mars orbiters
**** Mars Orbiter Mission, India's first interplanetary mission
*** Mars rover missio ...
, the MBR Explorer will launch from
Tanegashima Space Center
The (TNSC) is the largest rocket-launch complex in Japan with a total area of about 9.7 square kilometers. It is located on the southeast coast of Tanegashima, an island approximately south of Kyushu. It was established in 1969 when the N ...
, this time on an
H3.
The spacecraft will weigh around 2.8 tonnes and will travel at an average speed of 33,000 km/h.
The MBR Explorer will visit asteroids
10253 Westerwald,
623 Chimaera
623 Chimaera is a minor planet, specifically an asteroid orbiting in the asteroid belt.
Orbit and classification
The asteroid is the major body in its own asteroid family, the Chimaera Family, it is also 22 kilometres in radius and orbits mo ...
,
13294 Rockox,
(88055) 2000 VA28,
(23871) 1998 RC76, and
(59980) 1999 SG6, in a 5-billion-kilometre total journey,
and will attempt to land on its seventh and final asteroid,
269 Justitia
Justitia (minor planet designation: 269 Justitia) is a fairly sizeable main belt asteroid.
It was discovered by Johann Palisa on 21 September 1887 in Vienna.
The asteroid was named after Justitia, the Roman equivalent of Themis, the Greek goddes ...
in 2034.
The spacecraft will also drop off a small lander to set down on Justitia's surface.
See also
* ''
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, ...
'', an ongoing NASA mission that will similarly fly by various Jupiter trojans.
*
DESTINY+
Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
Fate
Although often ...
, a planned JAXA mission that will fly past multiple asteroids.
References
2028 in spaceflight
Space program of the United Arab Emirates
{{UAE-stub