Q&A – What the Emirates’ MBR Explorer Mission Will Teach Us About the Early Solar System

The new Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) — also known as the MBR Explorer — currently being planned by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency aims to send a spacecraft past seven asteroids, in particular the strange space rock (269) Justitia. Though the mission is still roughly six years away, SpaceRef caught up with mission director Hoor Al Mazmi to discuss the project, its goals, and how it will contribute to our understanding of the cosmos.

The MBR Explorer mission was discussed publicly at the Universities Space Research Association’s Asteroids, Comets, Meteors Conference (ACM) held in Flagstaff, Arizona from June 18 to 23, 2023. Of particular interest is the mission’s focus on (269) Justitia, which has an extremely red color due to the presence of tholins, or organic compounds, on its surface. The 2021 announcement that Justitia contains tholins was unexpected given that tholins are more common in distant trans-Neptunian objects past Neptune’s orbit; Justitia orbits instead in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

EMA will aim to uncover Justitia’s origin story while also examining all seven asteroids, which are believed to host water. The mission will examine the composition and temperatures of each space rock with an aim to learn more about their histories.

Aside from Justitia, the other asteroid targets include (10254) Westerwald, (623) Chimaera, (13294) Rockox, (88055) 2000 VA28, (23871) 1998 RC76, and (59980) 1999 SG6. Most of these are small asteroids, at just 6 miles (10 km) in diameter, while Justitia and Chimaera are roughly 30 miles (50 km) across.

The MBR Explorer mission is expected to launch in roughly six years (approximately 2029) and to spend seven years flying to the main asteroid belt, including flybys of Venus, Mars, and Earth to pick up speed along the way. Some of the spacecraft’s build will be informed by the successful Emirates Mars Mission, which arrived at the Red Planet in 2021 and is still operational. The six flybys are expected to last between two and 12 hours (depending on the location), while the UAE Space Agency has budgeted seven months at Justitia after rendezvous.

Instruments that will be on board include:

• A mid-wavelength infrared spectrometer from the Italian Space Agency (ASI);
• A high-resolution camera and thermal infrared camera from Malin Space Science Systems;
• A thermal infrared spectrometer from Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University, based on the design of the EMIRS (Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer) instrument developed for the Emirates Mars Mission.

To learn more about the MBR Explorer project, SpaceRef spoke with mission director Hoor Al Mazmi by email. The conversation, which has been lightly edited, is below.

SpaceRef: How do EMA’s scientific goals relate to other studies of main belt asteroids, especially those that study their surfaces?

Hoor Al Mazmi: There is almost limitless potential for this mission. This includes learning more about the main belt asteroids we’re visiting. Five are from major ‘families’ [of asteroids] and [we plan on] cross-referencing those findings with meteorites found on Earth, through assessing the composition of these asteroids and the presence of water and other volatile compounds. [We will also] take a very close look at (269) Justitia, which could be a TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object, beyond the orbit of Neptune) that migrated to the main belt. The mission is set to make a major contribution to our understanding of main belt asteroids, their origins and evolution, and their potential for resources to support future space missions. From the reception of the mission’s aims and science goals at ACM this past week, it would appear the science community shares our excitement.

SR: How can these findings add to our understanding of the solar system’s history?

HAM: It’s really about ‘back to basics.’ We believe that the building blocks of life are bound into the substance of the asteroids, and that these objects trace their origins to the origins of the solar system. Hidden in them are the clues, even the answers, to not only how our solar system was formed, but to the origins of life itself. That’s a 4- to 5-billion-year-old story that we’d love to unravel and tell. We see these asteroids as being key to unlocking that story, sort of like a Rosetta Stone.

Justitia, in particular, is a fascinating target for study because it might have come — migrated in fact — from beyond Neptune, with the possibility of containing complex pre-biotic organic compounds. Yet it is within our easy reach for study. Getting to know Justitia could revolutionize our understanding of the origin of water on Earth and other terrestrial planets. We’re aiming to spend a long time up close with this most mysterious of the millions of main belt asteroids.

SR: What are the EMA’s science goals and how do these relate to Earth’s history, as well as asteroids?

HAM: EMA will build a greater understanding of main belt asteroid characteristics, origins, formation, and evolution. It has the potential to open new windows into our understanding of the formation of our solar system, and the presence and origins of water-rich asteroids in the main asteroid belt. But we also expect to be able to lay the ground for possible future resource extraction from asteroids, to eventually support extended human missions in space.

We are setting out to answer three important questions: Where did the water-rich asteroids form? Are they linked to specific meteorites? What do their chemical inventory and volatile abundance tell us about the evolution of our solar system?

Adding to those goals, we’re collecting remote sensing data on a wide range of asteroids to better evaluate their potential as resource deposits, for future deep space exploration. So, we’re looking at the origins of the fundamental building blocks of life, and also looking at building blocks for future space missions.

As for our understanding of Earth, we hope to advance our understanding of where our water actually came from — and help to advance our roadmap to where we’re going [in terms of evolution]. Those might seem very lofty goals, but that’s the way we’re thinking right now.