The asteroid that NASA’s spacecraft is set to approach is called Psyche. The Psyche asteroid is considered a valuable resource, containing vast amounts of gold and diamonds, valued at 70,000 times the global economy.
This asteroid was discovered by Italian scientist Annibale de Gasparis in 1852 and named after the Greek goddess.
NASA has announced that the launch of the spacecraft to Psyche will take place at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The spacecraft is expected to launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in October. The contract for the launch, awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2020, is worth $117 million.
The NASA rocket is scheduled to be launched towards the Psyche asteroid in October 2023. (Image: NASA).
According to NASA’s website, the rocket will travel for approximately three and a half years before reaching the Psyche asteroid. After that, the spacecraft will spend 21 months studying the giant asteroid, which NASA hopes will provide insights into its structure and formation history.
Psyche is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System, with an average diameter of 220 km. This massive asteroid is located in the Asteroid Belt, accounting for about 1% of the total mass of the entire belt, and is believed to be the core of an ancient planet.
The belt consists of approximately 1.1 to 1.9 million asteroids larger than 1 km, along with millions of smaller asteroids.
However, it is not Psyche’s size that excites scientists the most, but rather its abundant metal content and the origins of this asteroid. It is thought to contain large amounts of iron, nickel, and gold, valued at an estimated $10 quintillion, or about 70,000 times the global economy.
The Psyche asteroid contains vast amounts of gold, estimated to be worth 70,000 times the global economy. (Image: NASA)
“While Psyche is composed mainly of iron, nickel, and gold, other planets are primarily made of rock and ice. This suggests it could be the remaining core of a protoplanet that formed billions of years ago,” the Daily Star reported, citing scientists’ opinions.
NASA’s program aims not only to thoroughly investigate the Psyche asteroid but also to test new deep space communication technologies. NASA states that this could lead to more effective information transmission across space compared to current technologies.
