UAE to launch spacecraft between Mars, Jupiter; probe to find origins of the universe

The United Arab Emirates will send a space probe to land on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. According to the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, the probe will collect data on the origins of the universe till the battery drives the spacecraft. The space agency said that the spacecraft would endure behind on the asteroid, transferring back to Earth report on the composition of the asteroid.

According to the space agency's plans, it would launch the probe in 2028 and would travel some 3.6 billion kilometres before landing on the Earth in 2033.  The probe will have to slingshot first around Venus and then the Earth to accumulate sufficient pace to reach an asteroid some 560 million kilometres away. If the mission is successful, it will accomplish the long-cherished dream of the UAE of joining an elite club of the European Union, Japan and the United States, which have completed the feat so far. 

Meanwhile, the UAE Space Agency and the Minister of State for advanced technology, Sarah al-Amiri, said that this mission will be a greater challenge for the spacecraft as it would travel both near and far from the sun. When asked about the data the Emirates will collect from the mission, she said the space agency will hold a discussion and then share the data with the media. "Because this comes on the back of the Emirates Mars mission, it is several factors harder, rather than exponentially harder,” al-Amiri told the Associated Press. "If we went to get this mission done from the get-go without having the background that we currently have from the Emirates Mars mission, it will be very difficult to achieve."

Emirates plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), around 1.1 million known asteroids circulate in the solar system of which maximum orbit the sun in the area between Mars and Jupiter. It said that the Emirates Space Agency probe would cover all the aspects in order to know the origin of the universe. It is worth mentioning that the Emirates has planned to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024. It has also set the ambitious goal to build a human colony on Mars by 2117. "It is difficult. It is challenging,” al-Amiri said of the asteroid project. "We fully understand and comprehend that, but we understand the benefits of taking on such large, challenging programs and projects."

(With inputs from AP)

Image: Twitter/@NASA/AP