The long-awaited NASA mission to explore the 140 mile wide gold-rich asteroid named after the Greek goddess of the soul, Psyche, has been greenlit for a new launch date.
Originally planned for August 2022, the journey of 280 million miles to asteroid 16 Psyche, by a spacecraft of the same name, has been given a launch window of Oct. 5 to Oct. 25.
Spacecraft 16 Psyche will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the space rock, which orbits between Mars and Jupiter. The initial trip was delayed due to institutional issues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which have since been resolved.
"The independent review board is extraordinarily impressed by the accomplishments of the total JPL organization and Caltech," report from JPL read. "Engagement in and leadership of the overall response process by the JPL director and senior leadership is deemed 'world class.'"
Psyche, an asteroid first discovered in 1852, is composed mostly of iron, nickel, gold, and other rare metals. Experts believe it could be worth $10,000 quadrillion, and could be the metallic core of a planetesimal or a newly forming planet.
The spacecraft is set to arrive at 16 Psyche in August 2029 to begin studies on the astral goldmine so as to gain a better understanding of Earth's interior and the history of the solar system, according to the Houston Chronicle.
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