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World desk3 min

UAE Plans 2028 Launch of MBR Explorer to Study Seven Asteroids

The UAE’s MBR Explorer is planned to launch in 2028, fly past six asteroids and rendezvous with Justitia for a planned lander operation.

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The United Arab Emirates plans to launch MBR Explorer in 2028 on a mission to study seven asteroids: six flybys followed by a rendezvous with Justitia, where a lander is planned. The UAE Space Agency’s latest dated update, published 27 April 2026, says the spacecraft has entered Assembly, Integration and Testing; the launch remains a plan, not a completed event.

What the UAE asteroid mission will do

The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) is a UAE Space Agency mission whose spacecraft is named MBR Explorer. Its published plan is to travel about five billion kilometres to the main asteroid belt, using gravity assists at Venus, Earth and Mars to shape its trajectory. The Agency describes a sequence of six asteroid flybys and a final rendezvous with Justitia.

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The mission’s science objectives include investigating the origins and evolution of water-rich asteroids and assessing their potential as resources for future space exploration. That assessment is a research goal; it does not mean the mission will mine an asteroid or demonstrate operational asteroid mining.

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When is MBR Explorer expected to launch?

The UAE Space Agency’s 27 April 2026 status update says the planned launch is in the first quarter of 2028. The Agency’s project page gives March 2028 and a three-week launch window. These are schedule expectations, not confirmation of a launch date. The planned launch vehicle is Japan’s H3, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries named as the launch-services partner.

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That same project page describes EMA as a 13-year mission: six years for spacecraft development and seven years for the flight to the main belt. It expects the first asteroid encounter, at Westerwald, in February 2030. The 13-year figure therefore should not be read as 13 years of active asteroid science.

What is the spacecraft’s current status?

After completing its Critical Design Review in 2025, the program moved into Assembly, Integration and Testing, according to the UAE Space Agency’s update of 27 April 2026. The Agency says testing will expose the spacecraft to space-like conditions. This is a development milestone; the update does not say that the spacecraft is ready to launch.

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Which asteroids are on the planned route?

A 2023 UAE Space Agency science-team announcement names seven targets. The first six are planned flyby encounters; the seventh, Justitia, is the planned rendezvous and lander destination. The Agency’s project page describes close flybys of seven main-belt asteroids, while later official announcements specify the lander operation at the final target. The more specific sequence is six flybys, then the Justitia rendezvous and lander operation.

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Order Asteroid Planned operation
1 (10254) Westerwald Flyby; first encounter expected in February 2030
2 (623) Chimaera Flyby
3 (13294) Rockox Flyby
4 (88055) 2000 VA28 Flyby
5 (23871) 1998 RC76 Flyby
6 (59980) 1999 SG6 Flyby
7 (269) Justitia Rendezvous; a lander is planned for deployment

The target list comes from the Agency’s 2023 announcement. As a published plan, it may be revised; the available Agency material does not provide a complete, current encounter-by-encounter calendar or launch-site and launch-day details.

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Will the spacecraft land on an asteroid?

No. The Agency’s plan is for MBR Explorer to rendezvous with Justitia and deploy a lander to study the asteroid. It is the lander—not the MBR Explorer—that is intended to descend to the surface. The Technology Innovation Institute is identified by the Agency as the lander developer.

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Who is involved in EMA?

The UAE Space Agency leads the mission. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is the launch-services partner for the planned H3 launch, and the Technology Innovation Institute is developing the lander. Agency materials also describe participation by UAE academic and private-sector organizations, alongside goals for education, outreach, training and development of the country’s space sector.

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Why study these asteroids?

EMA is designed to investigate asteroid origins and evolution, with particular interest in water-rich bodies, and to assess whether asteroid resources could matter to future space exploration. These are scientific and exploratory aims. The stated goals do not establish that resources will be extracted, that mining technology will be tested, or that any asteroid has been confirmed as a usable resource.

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