The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai has announced the appointment of a new director general as the UAE continues its emergence as a major player in the global space race.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and president of the MBRSC, has issued a decision promoting Salem Humaid AlMarri, deputy director general.
With over 15 years of experience, AlMarri has been responsible for ensuring the success of various programmes within the UAE National Space Programme including Mars 2117, Emirates Mars Mission, UAE Astronaut Programme, and the UAE Satellite Programme.
AlMarri has also overseen the expansion of MBRSC into new scientific and technical fields alongside ensuring continuous developments in the space sector, a statement said.
AlMarri received the UAE Pioneers Award in 2014 for being the first project manager of the UAE satellite DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2.
He was also the head of the bidding team that won the rights to host the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Dubai and was the lead of the organising committee for the event held for the first time in an Arab country in Dubai last year.
In 2016, he was elected as the first UAE member of the International Academy of Astronautics.
His appointment comes just months after the UAE Space Agency announced plans for a new Emirati interplanetary mission, designed to further accelerate the nation’s space engineering, scientific research and exploration capabilities.
Built on the knowledge and experience gained from the Emirates Mars Mission, the new mission will involve significant participation from Emirati private sector companies.
It is scheduled for launch in 2028, with the primary goal of exploring the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the source of most meteorites that impact earth.
The spacecraft will undertake a 3.6 billion km, five-year journey, which will see it perform gravity assist manoeuvres by orbiting first Venus, then Earth in order to build the velocity required in order to reach the main asteroid belt, located beyond Mars.
Its trajectory around Venus will see it reaching a solar proximity of 109 million km, requiring substantial thermal protection and a furthest distance from the sun of 448 million km, requiring high levels of insulation and spacecraft operation with minimal levels of available solar energy.
Through its journey, it will study seven main belt asteroids.
The mission will make its first close planetary approach orbiting Venus in mid-2028, followed by a close orbit of Earth in mid-2029. It will make its first fly-by of a main asteroid belt object in 2030, going on to observe a total of seven main belt asteroids before its final landing on an asteroid 560 million kilometres from Earth in 2033.
This will make the UAE the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on an asteroid.
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