The story looks like something from a science fiction movie, but it is a reality that is in NASA’s sights: in the vastness of space there is an asteroid that is worth more than the global economy of our planet.
It’s about the asteroid Psyche 16, discovered in 1852, which measures 226 kilometers in diameter and is located between Mars and Jupiter, about 370 million kilometers from Earth.
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In October last year, a study used the space telescope Hubble to get a more detailed picture of this asteroid, considered today by the scientific community as one of the most valuable known.
Psyche 16 is on NASA’s radar, which together with Space X, the company of the famous billionaire Elon Musk, plans an exploration mission for 2022. But why is there so much interest?
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Well, this asteroid is a giant rock found in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Various observations indicate that it is made mainly of metals and experts estimate that it was part of the core of a planet that failed to form, which could give clues as to how the Earth’s core and that of other planets formed.
In an interview with BBCTracy Becker, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, USA, who is part of the latest investigation into the surface of this huge rock, said:
“I’ve seen other meteorites that are mostly metallic, but what makes Psyche unique is that it can be made entirely of iron and nickel.”.
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And not only that. It is believed that in addition to iron and nickel, the asteroid may also contain platinum and gold, and this is where its value lies. In fact, that’s why some call it ‘the golden asteroid‘.
It is difficult to determine what the net present value would be on Earth, but a 2019 projection estimates this. the total economic value of all psychic metals could exceed $ 10,000 billion.
This is the sketch of the spaceship that will explore 16 psychics.
So, given that the value of the global economy in 2019 was 142 billion US dollars, according to the German data portal Statistician, It could be said then that psychic minerals are worth about 70,000 times more.
Regarding a possible exploration, it is known that Space X and NASA intend to launch in 2022 an exploratory spacecraft (see image) that will reach the asteroid in 2026, and this would be the first mission in which NASA would investigate a metal mass in instead of formed of rocks and ice.
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“Over 21 months in orbit, the spacecraft will map and study 16 properties of the psyche using a multispectral camera, a gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer, a magnetometer and a radio instrument (to measure gravity),” he said. POT.
Specifically, he adds, “The mission’s goal is, among other things, to determine if Psyche is really the core of a planet-sized object.”.
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