NASA is visiting an asteroid valued at more than the entire world economy's worth, but that's not why it's going there

• NASA has announced a new mission to a metal-rich asteroid called 16 Psyche. 
• The metals that 16 Psyche is thought to contain would be worth $100,000 quadrillion on Earth.
• But NASA isn't going to mine the asteroid for its resources. 

NASA is visiting an asteroid in our solar system worth more than the entire world economy, but that's not why it's going there. 

The space agency launched an uncrewed spacecraft today to explore the potato-shaped asteroid called Psyche.