NASA launched a mission in October 2023 that aims to explore a 226-kilometer-wide metallic asteroid called 16 Psyche. An object like this, considered the exposed core of a destroyed planet, was never visited by any spacecraft. The asteroid has a estimated value of 100,000 billion dollars.
As an M-type asteroid, Psyche is recognized as metallic, although the exact composition of its metals remains uncertain. If these metals were present on Earth, their value would exceed that of the entire global economy, according to estimates by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, principal scientist of the Psyche mission, as published by the specialized site Space.com.
Scientists use spectroscopy to determine the composition of celestial objects, a process that breaks down the light emitted by an object in a spectrum, giving it a “unique spectral fingerprint. “Unfortunately, the metal does not have a unique spectral signature,” said University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory professor Vishnu Reddy. “You can know something is metallic, but you can’t say specifically what metal it is,” he added.
He also mentioned to the scientific media that, while radar methods show that Psyche’s surface is highly reflective, they do not specify the nature of the reflective material. According to him, many scientists suspect that the surface of Psyche is predominantly composed of nickel and irongiven its prevalence in asteroids.
By using computer simulations and examining large impact craters on Psyche’s surface, scientists can hypothesize what materials the asteroid must be made of to withstand the impacts that created these craters, according to a report from the site.
Wendy Caldwell, a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, told Space.com that her most promising findings, including those from a 2020 study, indicate that the asteroid could be composed of Monel. This metal, composed primarily of nickel and copper, is believed to reflect the typical composition of metallic objects in space. Regardless of the materials that make up Psyche, the asteroid likely contains so much metal that estimating its amount and applying the current market value results in a staggering figure.
Elkins-Tanton estimated that Extracting Psyche’s iron alone could yield $100,000 trillion worth. Of course, this is based solely on the value of the metal, not dollars, as there is not enough money in the world to meet that estimate.
More about the mission
Arizona State University leads the Psyche mission. JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, is responsible for overall mission management, systems engineering, integration and testing, and mission operations. Maxar Technologies in Palo Alto, California, provided the chassis for the high-power solar electric propulsion spacecraft.
JPL manages DSOC for the Technology Demonstration Missions program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and the Space Navigation and Communications program within the Space Operations Mission Directorate.
Psyche is the fourteenth mission selected as part of NASA’s Discovery Program, managed by the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, managed the launch service.
