The $10,000 quadrillion asteroid: Experts reveal how iron, nickel and gold makes 16-Psyche...

Daily Mail UK ^ | Christian Schroeder

[BenLurkin]

FULL HEADLINE: The $10,000 quadrillion asteroid: Experts reveal how iron, nickel and gold makes 16-Psyche so valuable as NASA prepares to visit it in 2026

Three times further away from the sun than the Earth lies an enormous lump of metal. 

Around 252km in diameter, the metallic 'M-class' asteroid 16 Psyche is the target of NASA's next mission to the belt of giant rocks that encircles the inner solar system.

And the space agency now plans to visit it much sooner than originally planned.

Not only has the launch has been brought forward one year to the summer of 2022, but NASA's scientists have also found a way to get to Psyche (pronounced SYKe-ee) much faster by taking a more efficient trajectory. 

The new route means the Psyche spacecraft won't have to swing around the Earth to build up speed and won't pass as close to the sun, so it needs less heat protection.  It is now due to arrive in 2026, four years earlier than the original timeline.

The main aim of the journey to Psyshe is to gather more information about our own solar system. 

[alexander_busek]

Umm, a lower resistivity means it’s a BETTER conductor...

Um, sorry: Those are typos. The words "electrical resistivity" should be replaced with "electrical conductivity." (First wanted to list resistivity, then decided to list conductivity instead, but forgot to change the word; the values, however, are correct.)

One further correction: Silver and copper are better than gold with respect to both electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity not only gram for gram, but also by volume.

Regards,