NASA has released an update on a massive asteroid estimated to be worth $1 quintillion.
In case you’re wondering how many zeros there are, there are 19 zeros, or $10,000,000,000,000,000,000.
This estimate is Financial Its value comes from the large amounts of precious metals contained within the asteroid.
Psyche is named after the Greek goddess of the soul and was discovered in 1852 by the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis.
2023, NASA Launched a probe to investigate Psyche They investigated the asteroid from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, hoping to gain some insight into its internal structure. history And where in the solar system it may have originated.
It is the 16th asteroid to be discovered and is thought to be composed of 30 to 60 percent metal.
These percentages include gold, iron, platinum, palladium and nickel, all of which are used in many industries.
NASA’s model of the asteroid Psyche. (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Of course, if a large amount of minerals were to be flooded onto the market, this would affect prices, but it would give us an idea of how much of the mineral is contained in the asteroid.
There’s also the slight problem that this asteroid sits about 235 to 309 million miles away from the Sun, depending on its position in its orbit.
That could make actually accessing the asteroid a bit more difficult, especially when it comes to recovering the resources inside it.
In fact, it takes about six years to reach an asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. According to Daily Express US.
As part of the journey to Psyche, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) The plan is for the probe to be used to “slingshot” the asteroid towards Mars in 2026.
If everything goes according to plan Journey NASA’s probe is scheduled to arrive at Psyche in 2029.
NASA launches mission to asteroid. (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Scientists now believe that Psyche formed as a result of a violent collision early in the solar system.
This is by studying the asteroid itself, Of earth core.
NASA invested approximately $1.2 billion in the development, launch and operation of the Psyche mission.
In a statement released in July 2023, NASA said that ahead of launch, “a team of engineers and technicians have been working nearly around the clock to prepare the probe for its 2.5 billion-mile journey to a metal-rich asteroid that may teach us more about planetary cores and planetary formation.”
The spacecraft may be traveling at 84,000 miles per hour, but it still has a long way to go, considering it still has to travel more than 164 million miles from Earth, or roughly 264 million kilometers.
