2 hours Ago
NASA has launched a groundbreaking mission to explore the asteroid 16 Psyche, an object valued at an estimated USD 10 quintillion due to its high metallic content. This mission could unlock invaluable insights into the solar system's early formation and, theoretically, holds enough wealth to make every person on Earth a billionaire. The spacecraft aims to study Psyche's unique composition, which is believed to consist primarily of nickel and iron, potentially offering clues about the building blocks of planetary cores.
Last month, NASA launched a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to 16 Psyche, a unique M-type asteroid located 2.2 billion miles away in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Unlike typical rocky or icy asteroids, 16 Psyche is primarily composed of valuable metals like iron, nickel, platinum, and palladium, which are essential for manufacturing technologies on Earth.
Spanning 64,000 square miles, 30-60 per cent of the asteroid's composition is estimated to be metallic. ALSO READ: Jordan: Security Forces Kill Gunman Accused Of Firing Near Israeli Embassy; 3 Cops Wounded Metallic World 391 Million Kilometers Away The Psyche spacecraft, set to arrive at asteroid 16 Psyche in August 2029, will orbit rather than land on the metallic body located 391 million kilometres from Earth. While mining its resources could destabilise the global economy by flooding markets with immense wealth, NASA's primary aim is scientific.
The mission seeks to understand the asteroid's properties, the universe's evolution, and planetary cores. Scientists speculate that 16 Psyche might be the exposed core of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block stripped of its outer layers through cosmic collisions. It's #TechTuesday 🚀Let's explore the Psyche Asteroid! Next stop: What could the Psyche asteroid be? Likely made largely of metal, it could be part of a planetesimal core, one of the solar system's building blocks.
🪐✨ Stay tuned next Tuesday for more on the Psyche asteroid! pic.twitter.com/owUbIguWNy ALSO READ: Pakistan News: Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz Suspends Top Hospital Officials Over HIV Outbreak Asteroid Psyche Could Reveal Hidden Planetary Secrets Asteroid 16 Psyche, a 140-mile-wide object, is estimated to contain a core of iron, nickel, and gold valued at USD 10,000 quadrillion.
NASA suggests it might be the partial core of a shattered planetesimal, an early building block of planets, offering a unique opportunity to study the interiors of terrestrial planets like Earth, typically concealed beneath their mantle and crust. Earth-based observations using visible and infrared wavelengths, along with radar, indicate that Psyche is irregularly shaped, resembling a potato..
