Green Light for Mission to Metal-Rich Asteroid
June 7, 2023
After months of delay, NASA has announced an October launch of a spacecraft named Psyche to explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name. The mission’s primary aim is to learn about the formation and interior structure of Earth and other planets. But in Issues, Ian Christensen and colleagues point out that the nascent space mining community also hopes to learn about the resources contained in such asteroids. And citing tantalizing potential, the authors call on the United States to lead in developing policies to guide the utilization of space resources as operations become feasible.