UAE builds probe for 5bn km space mission to ancient asteroid

• ‘Justitia’ is between Mars and Jupiter
• Crash landing creates crater to study
• Boost for growing UAE space sector

A probe built in Abu Dhabi will hurtle into an asteroid at the end of a 5 billion-kilometre journey through the solar system.

The eight-year mission will blast off from Japan in March 2028, gathering scientific data as it travels along its mammoth route.

Using “gravity assists” from Venus, Earth and Mars, MBR Explorer will endure conditions ranging from the intense heat around Venus to the cold of deep space.

Marking a new step in the UAE’s development of sovereign space technology, the solar-powered spacecraft will conduct fly-bys of six asteroids, capturing images and collecting data, before rendezvousing with 269 Justitia in 2036.

Justitia is a 54km-wide asteroid hiding in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists hope it could hold clues to how water and organic material moved through the early solar system.

The mission forms part of a rapidly expanding UAE space sector, which has attracted AED44 billion ($12 billion) in investment.

Rock of ages

Much redder than most objects in the main belt, the asteroid has a characteristic scientists believe could point to an ancient past.

Researchers believe the rock may have originated in the Kuiper Belt, the distant region beyond Neptune populated by icy bodies and dwarf planets, before migrating inwards towards the sun.

“There is a possibility that this asteroid might be not only the destination, but a traveller from the past, from the early days when the solar system was forming planets,” said Dr Elias Tsoutsanis, chief researcher from the Propulsion and Space Research Center at UAE’s Technology Innovation Institute (TII).

Scientists will look for water-related minerals, organic compounds and primitive material, some of which could be older than Earth itself.

MBR Explorer will spend months studying Justitia, mapping its surface and gathering data on its composition, geology and gravity before deploying the UAE-built probe.

The impactor will begin a two-to-three-hour ballistic descent, capturing increasingly detailed images.

Impact statement

With no propulsion to slow it down, the probe will detach from the main spacecraft. Expected to hit the surface at 15 to 27 metres per second, it may not survive.

Researchers expect the impact to excavate a small crater, potentially exposing material beneath Justitia’s surface.

“The probe will provide an opportunity to peek a little bit underneath this thick exposed layer,” said Anton Ivanov, principal investigator and executive director of TII’s Space and Propulsion Center.

Crucially, the impactor will transmit its final image before impact. Its battery is designed to operate for another 20 to 50 minutes if it survives, allowing it to transmit further data.

Designed and built by TII’s Propulsion and Space Research Center in collaboration with the UAE Space Agency, the probe is the product of little more than two years of development.

Twenty UAE engineers have worked on the project across hardware, software, imaging, communications and thermal systems. Key partners include HEX20, Khalifa University and the National Space Science and Technology Center.

TII has developed a low-power data processing unit to securely store images captured by the probe. Consuming about three watts of power, TII sees the technology as an edge AI platform with potential uses in defence, aerial monitoring and autonomous exploration.

Further reading:

• UAE space programme at private sector ‘tipping point’
• UAE space investments top $12bn, minister says
• How the UAE can make its push into space pay off