The UAE Space Agency has confirmed that its Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) is targeting a launch in the first quarter of 2028, using the MBR Explorer spacecraft paired with the EMA lander, in what ranks among the most ambitious deep-space projects the UAE has undertaken to date.

The mission is designed to run for eight years, during which the spacecraft will travel roughly five billion kilometres through the solar system. Its ultimate destination is asteroid 269 Justitia, but along the way it will fly past seven different asteroids, with the first encounter, with asteroid 10253 Westerwald, expected in February 2030. the mission's primary scientific goal is to investigate the origins and evolution of water-rich asteroids, study their physical and chemical characteristics, and analyse their mineral composition. Scientists also plan to assess the resources these asteroids may hold and their potential future uses. The spacecraft will carry four principal scientific instruments for this research.

A notable aspect of the project is the depth of homegrown expertise behind it: close to 150 Emirati professionals are working on the mission, and half of the project's work has been contracted out to UAE private-sector companies. The agency said the EMA lander itself was designed, built and tested entirely within the UAE, a process completed in under two years.

The mission builds on the UAE's expanding space programme, which previously put the country among a small group of nations with an active interplanetary presence after the launch of the Hope probe to Mars and other space initiatives.