The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it will be sending a spacecraft to orbit Venus in 2028 in the hopes of sending it on its first flyby to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter two years after.
Daily Mail reported that UAE plans to send seven more missions to land on an asteroid in 2033, which is 350 million miles from Earth. The mission could make UAE the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on an asteroid.
People wait for the launch of the "Hope" Mars probe at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai on July 19, 2020. - The probe is one of three racing to the Red Planet, with Chinese and US rockets also taking advantage of the Earth and Mars being unusually close: a mere hop of 55 million kilometers (34 million miles). "Hope" -- Al-Amal in Arabic -- is expected to start orbiting Mars by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)
UAE's Next Interplanetary Mission
UAE has become the first Arab nation and the fifth country in the world to send a spacecraft to orbit around Mars earlier this year. The Hope probe aims to provide a complete picture of the atmosphere of Mars and its layers.
Now on its latest interplanetary mission, UAE said that it will include significant involvement from the Emirati private sector companies and will be designed to accelerate space engineering, scientific research, and exploration of the country.
UAE prime minister and vice president Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said they had set their eyes to the stars and developed technologies to reach their goals. He added that with each new advancement they make towards space, they create opportunities for young people on Earth.
The country's next interplanetary mission is to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft will orbit Venus and then Earth to build the velocity needed to reach the asteroid belt.
Moreover, it will need substantial thermal protection as its trajectory around Venus will reach 67 million miles near the Sun. Likewise, it will need a lot of insulation when it reaches 278 million miles away from it.
UAE Space Agency chair Sarah Al Amiri said they took a six-year task when they launched the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM). That means there are five more complex missions soon to be released than the Earth observation satellites they are developing.
The Hope probe is under the EMM and was the first deep-space mission for UAE, with a long-term goal of setting up a Martian colony.
ALSO READ: Did UAE's Hope Mars Orbiter Just See Aurora Lights on Red Planet?
What Data Will UAE Collect?
In a report shared by NBC News, UAE's mission on landing a spacecraft on an asteroid will collect data on the universe's origins. This mission will join the three previous successful ventures of landing a probe on an asteroid, such as the European Union, the United States, and Japan. UAE's probe will remain on the asteroid to send back information to Earth about its composition.
The mission is a five-year journey beginning in 2028, when the probe will be launched to Venus and travel to the asteroid belt some 350 million miles (560 million kilometers) away.
As of now, the exact data that the Emirates will collect is still under discussion, but the mission is expected to be an even greater challenge than their previous ones.
"Because this comes on the back of the Emirates Mars mission, it is several factors harder, rather than exponentially harder," Al-Amiri said as quoted by NBC News. "If we went to get this mission done from the get-go without having the background that we currently have from the Emirates Mars mission, it will be very difficult to achieve."
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