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From the Liveblog of Tuesday, October 5, 2021

UAE announces planned probe on asteroid between Mars, Jupiter

By AP 5 October 2021, 2:05 pm Edit

In this photo from February 9, 2021, Sarah Al Amiri, Emirati Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission speaks ahead of a live broadcast of the Hope Probe as it attempts to enter Mars orbit as a part of Emirates Mars mission, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates announces plans to send a probe to land on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter to collect data on the origins of the universe, the latest project in the oil-rich federation’s ambitious space program.

The project targets a 2028 launch with a landing in 2033, a five-year journey in which the spacecraft will travel some 3.6 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles).

The UAE’s Space Agency says it will partner with the Laboratory for Atmospheric Science and Physics at the University of Colorado on the project. It declines to immediately offer a cost for the effort.

The project comes after the Emirates successfully put its Amal, or “Hope,” probe in orbit around Mars in February. The car-size Amal cost $200 million to build and launch. That excludes operating costs at Mars.

The Emirates plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024. The country, which is home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, also has set the ambitious goal to build a human colony on Mars by 2117.