Japan’s H3 to launch Emirati asteroid mission

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates will launch a mission to visit several asteroids later this decade on a Japanese H3 rocket.

The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) announced Oct. 10 it selected Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch its Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) on an H3 rocket in the first quarter of 2028. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

The spacecraft, also known as MBR Explorer after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, will fly by six main belt asteroids between 2030 and 2033 before rendezvousing on a seventh, Justitia, in 2034, later deploying a lander.

This mission is the third that the UAE has selected MHI to launch. An H-2A rocket launched the Emirates Mars Mission, a Mars orbiter, in 2020, while KhalifaSat, a remote sensing satellite, launched as a secondary payload on another H-2A in 2018.

“We have high expectations for the H3 launch vehicle, given its enhanced capabilities and MHI’s commitment to precision and excellence,” Mohsen AlAwadhi, EMA mission director, said in a statement about the contract. “This partnership represents not only the next step in the UAE’s journey into deep space but also a testament to our confidence in MHI’s technology and expertise.”

“We are very excited to support the project as the launch services provider,” said Iwao Igarashi, vice president and senior general manager of space systems at MHI, in the statement. “MHI is committed to delivering the MBR Explorer to the orbit successfully and providing a smooth start of the UAESA’s new journey to the deep space.”

The UAE Space Agency has provided few updates about the development of MBR Explorer since outlining details about the mission more than a year ago. The agency said in July that it completed a mission concept review but did not disclose any new information about the mission or the spacecraft, ranging from spacecraft mass to mission cost.

The award comes as MHI seeks to increase launch operations of the H3, which has performed two successful flights so far this year after a failed inaugural launch in 2023, with its next launch scheduled for late October. Nobuyuki Shiina, deputy general manager for space systems business development at MHI, said at the World Space Business Week conference in September that his company wanted to increase the vehicle’s launch rate from six a year to eight but did not give a timetable for doing so.

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