NASA Will Launch Spacecraft To Asteroid Worth More Than $10,000 Quadrillion
NASA started work on a spaceship that will be sent to explore a metal-rich asteroid called Psyche that may be worth more than $10,000 quadrillion. Many precious metals are hidden inside the asteroid and if it were to be returned to the world then every single person on this planet will become a billionaire.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has completed the designing and started building the probe that will fly to the asteroid Psyche, launching on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in August 2022. Pysche is not only rich in metals but it is also an important topic for the planetary scientists. The asteroid is thought to be the heart of an early planet that has lost its outer layers. Psyche 16 was first discovered in 1852 and is thought to be the remains of a protoplanet destroyed by 'hit-and-run collisions' when the solar system was formed.
The space agency says that the asteroid could be similar to the Earth's core. Pysche is rich in metallic iron and nickel and it helps the astronomers to further study how the world first formed. The asteroid is about 140 miles long and the mission which is of worth $117 Million has finally reached its last stage.
NASA Said that, "The Psyche spacecraft will head out beyond the Red Planet to the Asteroid Belt that goes between the Mars and Jupiter. A magnetometer will be used to measure the asteroid's magnetic field and a multispectral imager will capture images of the surface. The mission will also collect data on the composition and topography of the metal rock to better understand the core of a planet - as we can't study our own directly."
NASA further explained that, "Spectrometers will analyze the neutrons and gamma rays coming from the surface to reveal the elements that make up the asteroid itself."
Elkins-Tanton, who also is managing director and co-chair of the Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State University in Tempe said that "It includes trying to understand down to seven or eight levels of detail exactly how everything on the spacecraft has to work together to ensure we can measure our science, gather our data and send all the data back to Earth."