Omran Sharaf, project manager, says the biggest challenge will be the mission's short duration.
"One of the biggest challenges that we have in our mission is the time. We have only six years. Other countries usually develop such machines in much longer time frames, 10 to 12 years. But in our case, six years."
The probe is expected to arrive by 2021 to coincide with the UAE's 50th anniversary.
Nearly 100 scientists attended the event and will be working on the project.
But officials have not said how much it will cost.
For CRI, I'm Tu Yun.