UAE announces groundbreaking mission to asteroid belt, seeking clues to life’s origins

By NICK EL HAJJ
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates has unveiled plans to send a spaceship to explore the galaxy’s main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020. Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the project aims to develop a spacecraft in the coming years and then launch it in 2028 to study various asteroids. If successful, the spacecraft will soar at speeds reaching 33,000 kilometers per hour on a seven-year journey to explore six asteroids. It will culminate in the deployment of a landing craft onto a seventh, rare “red” asteroid that scientists say may hold insight into the building blocks of life on Earth.