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The asteroid Psyche is located about 370 million kilometers from Earth and is about 35 km wide. What makes it special is that unlike most asteroids that are stony or frozen, Psyche is “made” almost entirely of metals, just like the core of the Earth, according to a new study published Monday, Oct. 26 in the journal Planetary Science Journal.
“We’ve seen meteorites that are mostly metallic, but Psyche may be unique in that it could be an asteroid made entirely of iron and nickel,” said Tracy Becker, one of the study’s authors and a scientist. of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
Given the size of the asteroid, its metal content could be worth $ 10,000 trillion ($ 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000), or about 10,000 times larger than the global economy as of 2019, the Science people say.
Using ultraviolet spectrum data collected by the space telescope imaging spectrograph installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during two analyzes in 2017, the researchers deduced that Psyche’s surface (16) may be mostly pure iron. However, they recognized that the presence of an iron composition of up to 10% could affect the ultraviolet analysis.
Psyche is the target of NASA’s Discovery Psyche mission, which is expected to launch in 2022 with a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. More details about the asteroid, including its exact metal content, will be discovered when a spacecraft arrives there in early 2026.
Scientists believe the asteroid is the dead core left behind by a planet that failed during its formation, early in the solar system’s life, or the result of several violent collisions in its distant past.
“Psyche (16) is the only known object of its kind in the solar system and the only way humans will visit a core. We learn about inner space by visiting outer space,” said Lindy Elkins-Tanton, chief scientist. NASA and director of the Arizona State University School of Earth and Space Exploration, in a statement announcing the mission in January 2017.
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