The probe developed in the United Arab Emirates for the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt has completed vibration testing and is now undergoing thermal tests in a vacuum chamber. The main spacecraft, the MBR Explorer, is due to launch in March 2028.
The journey will last eight years and cover about five billion kilometres. Using gravity assists from Venus, Earth and Mars, the spacecraft will fly past six asteroids before reaching 269 Justitia in 2036, where it will release the small probe to descend to the surface.
Justitia intrigues scientists because it looks more like objects in the distant Kuiper Belt than its neighbours, suggesting it formed farther out and later migrated inwards. Studying it could help explain how water and organic compounds were distributed as the planets formed.
The probe was designed by Abu Dhabi’s Technology Innovation Institute, with about 40 people involved over 18 months. According to the institute’s chief executive, around 80% of the work was carried out by UAE engineers.
