NASA is less than 100 days away from deploying a probe to analyze an asteroid with a potential value of $10 quintillion. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory conducted a flight software test and placed it on the spacecraft, removing a major impediment that had forced the probe to miss its intended 2022 launch date. 16 Psyche is a 173-mile-wide asteroid composed of gold, iron, and nickel, with ore valued at $10 quintillion. NASA and SpaceX cooperated in 2020 to approach the metal-rich planet. The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 gives firms the legal right access minerals extracted from celestial bodies.
Six-year trek
NASA’s mission is scientific, aiming to learn more about planetary cores and planet formation. The spacecraft will launch in October on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket before heading on a six-year trek to the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. The satellite will orbit the asteroid for 26 months, studying its history and mineral composition.
