Tuesday’s announcement by the United Arab Emirates was that a probe will be sent to land on an Asteroid between Mars, Jupiter and collect data about the origins of our universe. This is the latest project in the ambitious space program of the oil-rich Federation.
The launch is planned for 2028 and a landing in 2033. This will be a five-year journey, in which the spacecraft will cover 3.6 billion km (2.2 billion miles) over five years.
According to the UAE’s Space Agency, it will work with the Laboratory for Atmospheric Science and Physics of the University of Colorado for the project. The UAE’s Space Agency declined to provide a cost estimate for the effort.
After the Emirates successfully launched its Amal (or “Hope”) probe into orbit around Mars in February, this project is now in place. It cost $200 million to construct and launch the Amal, a car-sized probe. This does not include operating costs on Mars.
The Emirates intends to send an unmanned spacecraft on the moon by 2024. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both part of the country. The ambitious goal is to establish a colony on Mars in 2117.