SAASST celebrates international asteroid day

The event commenced with a welcome speech by Engineer Maryam Sharif, Head of the Meteorite Lab Section at SAASST, who emphasized the importance of International Asteroid Day in raising awareness about the potential risks posed by near-Earth objects, the past asteroid incidents and the importance of tracking these threats. Additionally, she highlighted the UAE’s role in asteroid research, meteorite recovery, and deep space exploration. This was followed by a lecture in which she discussed about asteroids and why they matter.

Hoor Almaazmi, Senior Space Science Researcher at the UAE Space Agency, delivered a talk on the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA), one of the UAE’s initiatives in deep space exploration. She highlighted the mission’s objectives, the targeted asteroids, and its scientific goals.

The celebration also featured a panel discussion titled “Tracking the Threats, Exploring the Opportunities,” moderated by Engineer Maryam Sharif. Panelists included Ammar Eissa, Director of the Astronomical Observatories Department; Hoor Almaazmi, Senior Space Science Researcher at the UAE Space Agency; and Alreem Alzarouni, Research Analyst at SAASST. The discussion explored how asteroid science is communicated to the public, methods of tracking and recovering meteorites in the UAE, the future of national space missions, and ways to inspire the next generation of space scientists.

The event concluded with a guided tour of SAASST’s meteorite and impactite collection, followed by a special Planetarium show titled "Space Rocks: A Closer Look."