UAE Spacecraft To Explore Major Asteroid Belt Between Mars And Jupiter

The UAE spacecraft will be deployed on a five year journey, where it will traverse 3.6 billion kilometres to reach the main asteroid belt beyond Mars.

The United Arab Emirates will launch a spacecraft to explore a major asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, officials said Tuesday, after a UAE probe reached the red planet early this year.

The five-year journey from 2028 will traverse 3.6 billion kilometres (2.2 billion miles), with the unmanned craft drawing on gravity assists from Earth and Venus to reach the main asteroid belt beyond Mars, officials said.

"The mission will make its first close planetary approach orbiting Venus in mid-2028, followed by a close orbit of Earth in mid-2029," the UAE Space Agency said in a statement.

"It will make its first fly-by of a main asteroid belt object in 2030, going on to observe a total of seven main belt asteroids before its final landing on an asteroid 560 million kilometres from Earth in 2033."