If you ever laughed loudly at anyone who was saying that a fortune cannot simply fall down from the sky, you should reconsider your attitude. The Universe is far more surprising and generous with us than anybody could ever guess, and it proves it often. Considering that Earth is like a grain of sand compared to how big the Galaxy is, the possibilities for what could exist on other planets are practically endless.
But astronomers discovered an asteroid that’s capable of making anybody extremely rich, and they’re ready to send a spacecraft for exploring its surface. Called ‘Psyche’, the upcoming spacecraft that NASA will be using for exploring the space object, will be sent in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Target: Asteroid 16 Psyche
The 16 Psyche cosmic object measures 226-kilometers wide, and it defies the standard model of an asteroid. 16 Psyche is an exposed metallic iron, nickel, and gold kernel of a protoplanet. The metals that compose the asteroid are believed to be worth $10,000 quadrillion.
Psyche has just passed the stage about the critical design review, and it will begin orbiting the precious asteroid in January 2026. The spacecraft will launch from Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, Florida, it will be mounted on top of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in August 2022, and it will fly-past Mars in 2023.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who is the principal investigator for the Psyche mission, says the following:
It’s one of the most intense reviews a mission goes through in its entire life cycle,
And we passed with flying colors. The challenges are not over, and we’re not at the finish line, but we’re running strong.
While assembly and testing for the full robotic spacecraft starts in February 2021, everything has to be in the cleanroom at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA by April 2021.
There you have it. If you’re aiming to get rich and skip labor all your life, you now know where to look for precious metals.
