NASA concept image
- NASA successfully launched a probe headed for an asteroid that may be worth $10 quintillion.
- The outer-world body is composed of metals such as gold, nickel, and iron.
- The mission will last years and help observe what could be an ancient planetary core.
A NASA spacecraft is en route toward an asteroid believed to be brimming with an astronomical amount of metal riches.
The space agency successfully launched a probe Friday morning, carried by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. It is on a nearly six-year journey, with the "Psyche" spacecraft expected to reach the Main Asteroid Belt, located between Mars and Jupiter, in 2029.
Once there, it will orbit the asteroid for 26 months, studying and photographing the body to learn its history and mineral composition.