$10 quintillion asteroid edges closer to Earth ahead of key NASA and SpaceX rocket launch

The asteroid is officially called 16 Psyche and is estimated to be 176 miles wide, containing $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 worth of metals such as gold, iron, and nickel. In 2020, NASA announced it was partnering with Elon Musk's SpaceX to inspect the asteroid, and now we are less than 100 days away from the highly anticipated launch. Notably, NASA doesn't plan on mining the asteroid, or at least not yet, as the space agency's intentions are purely scientific.

NASA's spacecraft will launch on the back of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket sometime in October and take approximately six years to reach the Main Asteroid Belt located between Mars and Jupiter. The spacecraft, or more accurately, a satellite, will enter the asteroid's orbit and begin to perform scientific analysis. Researchers have equipped the satellite with various cameras to image 16 Psyche.

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