UAE announces mission to explore asteroids
The Emirates is the first Arab state to have a Mars mission and already has a probe circling the planet.
The United Arab Emirates announced a new space exploration mission on Tuesday.
The spacecraft will launch in 2028 to explore the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The mission aims to land on an asteroid by 2033, which would make the UAE the fourth country in history to accomplish the feat, the official Emirates News Agency reported.
Asteroids are large rocks in space, smaller than planets. Meteors are small pieces of asteroids that break off and burn up upon entering a planetary atmosphere.
The new spacecraft will also orbit Venus and Earth in order to build the velocity it needs to reach the asteroid belt beyond Mars, according to the Emirates News Agency.
