Technology Innovation Institute Completes Asteroid-Landing Probe for Landmark Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) has revealed the UAE-built probe it has developed for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA). The probe will soon travel to Colorado, USA, for final integration with the MBR Explorer spacecraft ahead of its planned 2028 launch. In a historic first, TII’s probe will image two planets and seven asteroids — flying past six asteroids in the main belt before culminating in a rendezvous with and landing on the seventh, 269 Justitia. If successful, the landing will make Justitia only the seventh asteroid in history to be reached on the surface by the probe.

Designed, built and tested end-to-end in Abu Dhabi by TII’s Propulsion and Space Research Center, in collaboration with the UAE Space Agency, as well as HEX20, Khalifa University and UAE University’s National Space Science and Technology Center, the TII-built probe is the mission’s only deployable payload. It will separate from MBR Explorer to make contact with Justitia’s surface at the furthest point of the mission and operate fully autonomously in deep space, capturing close-range images and excavating its surface to provide new insights into its composition and physical characteristics. 269 Justitia is thought to have formed in the Kuiper Belt before migrating into the main asteroid belt during the early formation of the Solar System.