The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) remains on schedule to launch in the first quarter of 2028, with the UAE’s most complex space project to date now in its assembly, integration and testing phase.
Mohsen Al Awadhi, Director of the Space Missions Department at the UAE Space Agency, said that the EMA Lander has passed the technical and environmental tests needed to verify flight readiness. The lander was designed, developed, assembled and tested entirely in the UAE in less than two years, with the Technology Innovation Institute playing a key role. It will soon be transferred to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder for integration with the MBR Explorer.
The eight-year journey will cover about five billion kilometres. The explorer is expected to reach its first asteroid, 10253 Westerwald, in February 2030, and will visit seven in total. The final target, 269 Justitia, may have originated in the Kuiper Belt. The explorer will study it from orbit for about seven months before the lander approaches the surface to capture detailed images.
Engineers are working through major challenges, including temperature swings near Venus and beyond Mars, precise gravity-assist manoeuvres and communication delays. The launch window lasts just three weeks.
Around 150 Emirati professionals are involved, and 50% of the work has been allocated to private-sector companies. The mission supports the National Space Strategy 2031. Al Awadhi said its success will be measured by the expertise, technologies and competitive companies it develops as well as by its scientific discoveries.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
