NASA's Ambitious Mission Comes with a High Price Tag.

NASA has approved the Psyche mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, valued at $985 million, which could contain precious and essential metals worth up to $10 quadrillion, or 90 times the entire world economy. The asteroid, which is largely nickel and iron, is of interest to scientists as it could provide insights into the origins of planets. The mission is set to launch in October and will take five years and 10 months to reach the asteroid using its solar-electric Hall propulsion system.