UAE announces mission to asteroid belt to seek clues to life’s origins

Mohsen Al Awadhi, director of UAE Space Missions Department, right, and Hoor AlMaazmi UAE, space science researcher, take part at a press conference revealing the latest news about the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Kamran Jebreili/AP/PA)

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) unveiled plans on Monday to send a spaceship to explore the solar system’s main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020.

Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the project aims to develop a spacecraft in the coming years and then launch it in 2028 to study various asteroids.