×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Sunday
18
Jan 2026
weather symbol
Athens 7°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> technology

NASA plans mission to explore an asteroid so valuable, it could crash the economy

Bringing back an asteroid of this value could completely wipe out our global economy

Newsroom May 25 09:58

NASA has set the date for a trip to an asteroid that could be worth “quadrillions” of dollars.

The Discovery Mission will launch in summer 2022, with a planned arrival at the main asteroid belt where the space rock is located expected in 2026 — four years earlier than the agency’s initial plans.

The asteroid, called 16 Psyche, is a massive hunk of precious metals including platinum and gold as well as iron and nickel.

It orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter and is of great scientific interest because it holds clues to one of the earliest eras in the history of our solar system — less than 10 million years after the birth of our sun.

But now it’s grabbed the attention of money-hungry entrepreneurs and investors thanks to its stratospheric price tag.

Valued at $10,000 quadrillion, according to Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the lead scientist on the NASA mission, it is definitely worth more than its weight in gold.

But bringing back an asteroid of this value could completely wipe out our global economy.

n1

Luckily, the space agency is taking the trip for scientific purposes and isn’t planning on conducting any mining — yet.

It reckons 16 Psyche is a survivor of violent hit-and-run collisions between planets that were common when the solar system was forming.

That means it could tell us how Earth’s core and the cores of the other terrestrial planets were formed.

“We challenged the mission design team to explore if an earlier launch date could provide a more efficient trajectory to the asteroid Psyche, and they came through in a big way,” said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA headquarters in Washington.

“This will enable us to fulfill our science objectives sooner and at a reduced cost.”

Two space mining companies — backed by big-name celebs — are gearing up for a gold rush after asteroid ownership was made legal in 2015.

>Related articles

Meeting between Mitsotakis and the “agro-leaders” of the blockades set for Friday

“All cash”: Netflix is preparing a strategic move to accelerate its $83 billion deal with Warner Bros.

Pierrakakis: The new 10-year bond record is the most convincing answer to those who question the value of the investment grade

Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources each have their eyes on the 2011 UW158 asteroid, which is twice the size of the Tower of London and worth up to $5 trillion.

Source

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#asteroids#economy#exoplanets#nasa#planet exploration#planets#science#technology
> More technology

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

War, diplomacy, or insurrection: What’s next in Iran

January 17, 2026

New tensions in the Middle East as Trump invites regional leaders to the Gaza Peace Council

January 17, 2026

Weather: A return to winter in the coming days – Cold and strong northerly winds – Kolydas’ post

January 17, 2026

A view of Nikolaos Stasinopoulos of Viohalco – The “enduring imprint” of Greece’s greatest industrialist

January 17, 2026

The horror of the “Tariff of the Dead”: how the Iranian regime prices the bodies of protesters

January 17, 2026

Mitsotakis on the Karystianou party: “There is a long distance between being the parent of a tragedy victim and being the leader of a political party”

January 17, 2026

Patras in carnival mode – This evening, the city’s official opening ceremony

January 17, 2026

Greenland as the first line ofdefense for the U.S. and NATO:

January 17, 2026
All News

> Politics

Mitsotakis on the Karystianou party: “There is a long distance between being the parent of a tragedy victim and being the leader of a political party”

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke on Saturday morning about the proposed Karystianou party, his forthcoming meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and his scheduled meeting with farmers on Monday

January 17, 2026

Mitsotakis attends the inauguration of the renovated Emergency Department at Red Cross Hospital

January 16, 2026

Marinakis: Anestidis has no place in a meeting with Mitsotakis; The video with insults crosses the line of decency

January 16, 2026

Gerapetritis: ‘Extension of territorial waters will come, as marine parks and spatial planning’

January 16, 2026

Hydrocarbon contracts in Parliament, Greece as an energy hub with Saudi Arabia and investments in the background

January 15, 2026
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα