UAE unveils homegrown probe for Asteroid Mission

The UAE has unveiled a domestically developed space probe for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA), fully designed, assembled and tested in the country by a team of more than 150 specialised engineers and scientists. The probe reached flight readiness in less than two years after a development agreement was signed in January 2025 between the UAE Space Agency and the Technology Innovation Institute (TII). Carried aboard the MBR Explorer, the probe is slated to travel some 5 billion kilometres to visit seven asteroids before autonomously separating and descending onto the surface of its final target, asteroid 269 Justitia.

"The milestone demonstrates the strength of the UAE's integrated research, development, and manufacturing ecosystem," Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Supreme Space Council, said as he witnessed the unveiling. He pointed to prior national achievements such as the Hope Probe and astronaut missions to underline the country's progress into advanced scientific industries.

Context and technical details

The probe programme brought together several national research and commercial entities, including the UAE Space Agency, TII's Propulsion and Space Research Center, Abu Dhabi-based startup HEX20 (operating under the UAE Space Agency's Space Economic Zones Programme), Khalifa University, and the National Space Science and Technology Center at United Arab Emirates University.

• Development timeline: agreement in January 2025; flight-ready in under two years.
• Team size: more than 150 specialised engineers and scientists.
• Mission scope: a 5 billion km journey to seven asteroids, concluding at 269 Justitia, where the probe will descend autonomously to sample or characterise the surface.
• Integration and launch plan: the probe will be integrated with the MBR Explorer at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder and is scheduled for launch from Japan in the first quarter of 2028.

Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency, emphasised that "the probe highlights the sector's growth and capacity to build specialised supply chains," framing the project as both a scientific mission and a domestic industrial achievement. Faisal Al Bannai, Advisor to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology, added that "TII's systems were rigorously engineered to withstand extreme interplanetary conditions billions of kilometres from Earth," underscoring engineering resilience for a long-duration mission.

Outlook

The probe is part of a broader national space agenda that the UAE values as an economic and strategic sector. The UAE's space sector currently exceeds AED44 billion, and under the National Space Strategy 2031 the country aims to double returns from the space economy, increase its added value by 60% and rank among the world's top 10 space economies.

The asteroid mission complements other high-profile initiatives cited by officials, including an AED1 billion International Space Cooperation Programme, the USD1 billion Altair–Next Gen AI satellite initiative with France, the Rashid Rover 2 lunar mission, and participation in NASA's Artemis programme. With integration at LASP and a targeted launch in early 2028, the EMA probe will test both UAE-built hardware and the nation’s capacity to deliver complex interplanetary science from design through to flight operations.