Psyche, an asteroid more valuable than the entire world economy.

in #science4 years ago


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The asteroid belt is a circumstellar disk of the solar system located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, formed by a multitude of interstellar objects, some of them of great mass and that scientists believe are the remains of a planet that was never reached to form.

The psyche asteroid is one of the most massive objects of this asteroid belt, discovered in 1852 and named as a greco-roman goddess, it is more than 200 km in diameter and represents 1% of the total mass of the belt.

Asteroids are normally made up of rock and ice but in the case of Psyche it is made up of iron, nickel and gold in quantity in what would be the bare core of a dead planet devoid of its outer layers.


Source

Given the possibility of commercially exploiting these riches, NASA prepares a space mission called Psyche, like the asteroid, which is scheduled for August 2022 and is scheduled to arrive in early 2026.

Once arrived at the asteroid, it will begin its exhaustive study from orbit with the help of a lot of sophisticated devices to study the gravitational field, as well as its internal structure.

According to some experts, the value of this huge rock can be around 10,000 quadrillion dollars, which seems that it could cover operating and transport costs and the odd spree.


Source

If all goes as expected, the ship will depart Cape Canaveral in August 2022 aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, will pass Mars in 2023 and begin orbiting the asteroid in January 2026.

We will have to start thinking that our grandchildren, if they study Geology, Mining Engineering or any other similar career, will end up having to go to work in outer space.


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You mean they are going to land on that asteroid? ... and they will build a space ship to go there?

Plus, how will they benifit with that costly psyche astoroid, they can't sell it and get that money can they!!

Again fasinating... I just reminded of the times I had reading Isaac Asimov's space sci stories, where thwy visit Satuture and discribe it's beauty. It's larger than life.

Hi @myntmile, by the moment they are only going to orbit it and study the asteroid composition more deeply but I think it is a matter of time that we will mine other solar system bodies.

Wow...asteroid mining!!

All these things will be top secret I guess - HA

If they come back with 10 tons of gold, that’s roughly 500 million dollars, it could be profitable... 😏

And if Elon Musk is involved they will get even more income. ;-)

Sensational! Things are getting more exciting for space exploration. This type of extraction will be very normal in the future ... our grandchildren will really benefit from this opportunity.