NASA is about to explore a $ 10 billion billion asteroid

The US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will begin its mission to explore the 16 Psyche asteroid that contains iron and nickel worth $ 10 billion by 2023.

NASA will begin its mission to explore the 16 Psyche asteroid in 2023, Sun reported on January 18.

16 Psyche is composed almost entirely of iron and nickel. According to Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the project scientist, the asteroid is worth $ 10 billion, about 130,000 times the value of the global economy.

The 16 Psyche asteroid contains iron and nickel worth 10 billion USD.(Artwork. NASA).

However, NASA technology cannot exploit metal on this planet."We want to understand the formation of the planet. In addition, we do not intend to bring these materials back to Earth for industrial use , " said Carol Polanskey, a project scientist. .

Scientists believe that 16 Psyche is the core of a Mars-sized planet. However, it lost the outer layer of rock due to many strong collisions that occurred billions of years ago in space. NASA project will help scientists clarify this hypothesis.

"This is an opportunity to explore a new planetary type, not rock or ice. 16 Psyche is the only metal body known in the solar system," Lyndi said.

Mission to discover 16 Psyche is expected to start in October 2023 and will arrive at the asteroid by 2030.