NASA Targets Gold-Rich Asteroid Worth 100,000,000,000 Trillion Dollar To Unlock Planet Formation Secrets

NASA's ambitious mission to study asteroid 16 Psyche is now underway, marking a major step in our efforts to understand the early formation of planets.

Launched on October 13, 2023, the spacecraft is heading toward a mysterious, metal-rich asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter, reports Economic Times.

Unlike most asteroids, which are rocky or icy, Psyche is made mostly of metal, including nickel, platinum, and possibly gold. The asteroid is thought to be the exposed core of a dead planet, making it a scientific treasure trove.

Not a gold rush: A science mission

While headlines often highlight the asteroid's estimated value of $100,000 quadrillion (more than the entire global economy many times over), NASA is not going there to mine it.

Instead, the goal is to understand how planetary cores like Earth's formed billions of years ago.“The mission is designed to enhance our understanding of how planets formed, especially in the early solar system,” NASA has stated, reports ET.

The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and will cover 2.2 billion miles to reach Psyche. It will perform a Mars gravity assist in 2026, and is expected to arrive at the asteroid by 2029.

What makes Psyche special?

Discovered in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, Psyche is named after the Greek goddess of the soul. It spans about 64,000 square miles, roughly the size of Iceland. Its metallic nature makes it one of the few known space objects resembling a planetary core, something scientists have never been able to study directly.

Because Earth's own core is unreachable, Psyche gives scientists a unique window into how rocky planets like Earth and Mars may have formed and evolved.

Could Psyche ever be mined?

Although NASA's mission is strictly scientific, interest in asteroid mining is growing among private companies like AstroForge and TransAstra. These companies see the long-term potential of extracting platinum-group metals and other rare elements for use on Earth.

However, mining Psyche is not feasible in the near future. According to planetary physicist Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida, the required space mining technology is still years away from being viable. On NASA's technology readiness scale (1 to 9), current systems for mining in space rate only between 3 and 5. A level of at least 6 or 7 is needed to begin developing a mission.

Environmental challenges, zero gravity, and the lack of infrastructure in deep space make such projects both risky and incredibly expensive for now.

Why Psyche matters for all of us

While we're nowhere near mining Psyche, the data gathered from this mission could revolutionize our understanding of planetary formation. Learning how metallic cores behave in space could even help scientists predict conditions on exoplanets or plan better planetary defense systems.

Ultimately, NASA's Psyche mission is less about riches and more about knowledge that could one day help us understand our own planet better.

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