UAE extends Mars probe mission until 2028

The UAE has extended its Emirates Mars Mission (Hope probe) through 2028 after the orbiter exceeded its targets, having returned roughly $200 million-funded mission data far beyond expectations. Officials also announced plans for a billion-dollar asteroid-belt mission in 2028 with half its budget earmarked for private-sector participation.

Dubai (AFP) Feb 17, 2026 — The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that it will extend its Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) — the Hope probe — for an additional three years, extending the mission through 2028. Now in its fifth year in Martian orbit, the probe arrived around Mars in 2021 after a seven-month voyage and was launched with a roughly $200 million investment, underscoring the Gulf state's long-term ambitions in space.

Direct quote

"As a space agency our role the first 10 years was just setting up the foundation, so it's predominantly government funded, but right now we're seeing private sector getting involved," said Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UAE Space Agency, at a press conference in Dubai. He added the UAE hopes to "be one of the 10 biggest" players in the space economy by 2031.

Context and mission details

The Hope orbiter has exceeded its original scientific targets. The EMM initially planned to collect one terabit of data on the Martian atmosphere but ultimately returned some 10 terabits, a tenfold increase that helped justify the extension. The probe has also produced precise observations of Mars' small moon Deimos and of comet 3I/ATLAS, described by the agency as only the third interstellar object ever detected entering the solar system.

  • Arrival in orbit: 2021, after a seven-month voyage.
  • Original data plan: 1 terabit; actual collection: 10 terabits.
  • Mission investment: approximately $200 million for Hope.
  • Extension: three additional years, through 2028.

The UAE framed the extension not only as a continuation of atmospheric science at Mars but also as a stepping stone to more ambitious projects. Officials highlighted a planned billion-dollar Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, scheduled to launch in 2028. That mission aims to send an unmanned spacecraft on a five billion kilometre (3.1 billion mile) journey to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Al Falasi signalled a shift in funding strategy for future programmes, saying, "The next mission to (the) asteroid belt, we've allocated 50 percent of the budget for the private sector." The comment points to growing private-sector involvement in UAE space projects after a decade in which activities were "predominantly government funded," according to the minister.

Outlook

With Hope extended through 2028, the UAE will continue to build a science legacy at Mars while using operational success as leverage to attract private investment for follow-on missions. The data already returned by EMM strengthens the case for the asteroid-belt mission and other initiatives intended to elevate the UAE into the global space economy. Officials have set an explicit target to be "one of the 10 biggest" space economy players by 2031, a goal that will rely on combining government resources, growing industry participation and high-profile interplanetary missions.