NASA Investigates ‘Goldmine’ Asteroid That Could Make Every Human A Billionaire
Image via NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning a mission to study a “goldmine” asteroid in our solar system, which could be worth more than US$10,000 quadrillion.
The 124 mile-wide asteroid, known as Psyche 16, is believed to be full of precious metals, unlike other space rocks that are usually made of rock or ice.
Arizona State University is heading the mission, while NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be in charge of mission management, operations, and navigation. As per Luxurylaunches, the trip to Psyche 16, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, will give researchers insight into an unexplored building block of planets: iron cores.
This is also the first time NASA will explore an asteroid made of metal—and Psyche 16 could contain so much of it that it would make everyone on Earth a billionaire.
“The findings are a step toward resolving the mystery of the origin of this unusual object, which has been thought by some to be a chunk of the core of an ill-fated protoplanet,” read the mission’s recent study.
“We think that fragments of the cores, mantles, and crusts of these objects remain today in the form of asteroids. If that’s true, it gives us our only real opportunity to study the cores of planet-like objects directly,” added Katherine de Kleer, Assistant Professor of Planetary Science and Astronomy at Caltech.
According to the current mission timeline, NASA will be launching a spacecraft to Psyche 16 next year, with it arriving at Psyche 16 in 2026. The craft will then spend 21 months in orbit, mapping and studying the asteroid’s properties.
Image via NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU
For more insight into NASA’s mission to Psyche 16, take a look at the video below.
[via Luxurylaunches, images via NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU]
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