Metal-rich asteroid possibly the core of a dead planet.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/nasa-sending-space-robot-asteroid-22332229

 

Probe accidently crashes into asteroid changing its orbit causing it to crash into earth in the year.....

 

Probe accidently crashes into asteroid changing its orbit causing it to crash into earth in the year.....

This year in December according to my calendar.

 

This year in December according to my calendar.

The upside being that said event would sterilize the globe completely from the CV19 virus...

 

The upside being that said event would sterilize the globe completely from the CV19 virus...

Let's hope the Bat Out Of Hell doesn't escape.

 

Metal-rich asteroid possibly the core of a dead planet.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/nasa-sending-space-robot-asteroid-22332229

Typical Daily Star article.

The article seems completely focused on how much the hunk is worth. But as near as I can tell, no one involved in the mission is thinking about mining it or anything related. Ever. Instead, the whole point is to explore what is hoped to be the core of a planet in order to try to shed some light on the core of the Earth (in additional to all of the basic science objectives that can be realized).

The article is basing its information on a Forbes article and it's not surprising that a Forbes article is going to make some kind of a market-value statement. But even so the claim about it's worth is a single throwaway sentence in the article (namely "The metals that make-up this one-of-a-kind asteroid could, according to some, be worth $10,000 quadrillion." Even in the other Forbes article they reference to get that figure the discussion of value is limited to just a couple sentences followed by a short, fanciful discussion that ends with "This is wild speculation obviously." The overwhelming bulk of both articles is on the science that will be explored and the technology advancements being incorporated into the probe. But the Daily Star's coverage of that is limited to just two extremely weak sentences made in passing, specifically, "It could even be the core of dead planet that lost its outer layers," (and absolutely nothing further about why this might be interesting) and, "Once there it will measure its magnetic field, capture images and analyse neutrons and gamma rays."

 

Or to put it in the English Idiom... Balderdash! Yes, a typical Daily Star article. But fun.

 

Or to put it in the English Idiom... Balderdash! Yes, a typical Daily Star article. But fun.

The true value it had (for me) is that I hadn't heard of this probe or this asteroid prior to this, so doing some Google searches and then reading the stuff put out by JPL and ASU was enjoyable and enlightening.

 

The true value it had (for me) is that I hadn't heard of this probe or this asteroid prior to this, so doing some Google searches and then reading the stuff put out by JPL and ASU was enjoyable and enlightening.

That's called indirect intellectual illumination, my friend.