Gold mining in space? NASA’s Psyche Spaceflight to Study Asteroid Worth $ 10,000 Quadrillion


16 Psyche |  Image credit NASA

16 Psyche | Image credit NASA

Experts claim that the asteroid called ’16 Psyche ‘consists entirely of nickel and metallic iron with a solid gold core. The estimated value of the asteroid can be close to $ 10,000 quadrillion.

  • News18.com
  • Last updated: 17 August 2020, 18:08 IST

For several years, people have been wondering and speculating about the large amounts of precious metals that lie indefinitely in space. According to scientists, there could be billions of dollars worth of valuable substances, such as gold, platinum, diamonds buried deep in asteroids, and pieces of space. And now man seems to be taking a step closer to mining some of that wealth.

NASA’s latest mission called Psyche, which was created to have a metal-rock asteroid called ’16 Psyche ‘, recently passed its “critical design” phase.

The 226-kilometer-wide asteroid is located in the asteroid bed of the solar system between Mars and Jupiter. Why is this particular asteroid of interest to scientists? The asteroid could potentially contain wealth that could cover the total cost of the entire world economy.

According to experts, the asteroid consists entirely of nickel and metallic iron with a solid gold core. The estimated value of the asteroid can be close to $ 10,000 quadrillion. That is enough to make every person on Earth a millionaire.

However, NASA stated that the new device is intended to study ’16 Psyche ‘to find out more about the formation of the Earth.

“Since we can not examine the core of the Earth up close, the asteroid Psyche (about 140 miles, if 226 kilometers wide) could provide valuable insight into how our own planet and others formed,” NASA had previously said in July.

To achieve the same, the space agency has designed the ‘Psyche’ spacecraft, which will study the asteroid’s magnetic field and record images and data on the topography and composition of the asteroid.

Like previous reports, NASA had rope in Elon Musk’s SpaceX to join the mission. If all goes well, the NASA / SpaceX mission may be ready to embark on its journey to the asteroid by 2022.

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