The UAE announced a new space mission to the asteroid belt
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The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to tour the large asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The UAE plans to explore one of the space objects that may contain water, writes The New York Times. The MBR Explorer spacecraft, named after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, is scheduled to launch in 2028. In February 2030, the spacecraft is expected to arrive at Westerwald, an asteroid traveling at a speed of about 32,000 km/h. At the same time, the seventh reddish asteroid named “Justitia” will be the most mysterious, the publication writes. Photo: United Arab Emirates Space Agency Planetary scientists suggest that Justice formed in the outer reaches of the solar system and eventually joined the asteroid belt. The MBR Explorer will spend at least 7 months studying the asteroid using cameras and spectrometers to identify its composition, including the presence of water. Scientists believe that the asteroid’s reddish color indicates carbon molecules, which are the building blocks of life. The spacecraft will also drop a small module to land on Justice’s surface. MBR Explorer is scheduled to launch within three weeks in March 2028 to complete all scheduled flights. If it fails to take off, the entire mission will have to be rescheduled, said the mission’s program director, Mohsen al-Awadhi. The United Arab Emirates is new to spaceflight. Two decades ago, the state did not have a space program. We will remind you that astronomers have compiled a map of dangerous asteroids for the next 1000 years. Read also: NASA showed new pictures of the universe created with the help of several telescopes. PHOTO
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