UAE's asteroid mission in 2028

Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates has announced plans to launch an asteriod mission, which will visit seven different asteroids in 2028.

It will be the UAE's second interplanetary effort. The first, the Emirates Mars Mission, arrived at Mars in February and started its official science run on May 23.

The EMM launched an orbiter called Hope to the Red Planet in July 2020, the Space.com reported.

"Our goal is clear: to accelerate the development of innovation and knowledge-based enterprises in the Emirates," UAE Space Agency chair Sarah Al Amiri was quoted as saying.

"This can't be done by going steady-state; this requires leaps in imagination, in faith and the pursuit of goals that go beyond prudent or methodical.

"When we embarked on the Emirates Mars Mission, we took on a six-year task that was (on) the order of five times more complex than the Earth-observation satellites we were developing.

This mission is (on) the order of five times more complex than EMM," Al Amiri said.