How Old Is The Universe? NASA News About Asteroid Could Reveal How Solar System Was Formed

NASA may be close to a major discovery. The space program is planning a mission to an asteroid that may be worth quadrillions of dollars.

The asteroid, called Psyche, is comprised of mostly nickel-iron metal and tracks an orbit in the outer part of the main asteroid belt. Arizona State University was selected to lead the deep-space flight that is expected to launch in 2023, according to a press release this month by its School of Earth and Space Exploration.

"This mission, visiting the asteroid Psyche, will be the first time humans will ever be able to see a planetary core," the school's lead investigator Lindy Eklins-Tanton said in a statement. "Having the Psyche Mission selected for NASA’s Discovery Program will help us gain insights into the metal interior of all rocky planets in our solar system, including Earth."

NASA has also planned to fund a space mission called Lucy, which will explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids as part of the undertaking to understand the history of the solar system. That mission was expected to launch in October 2021.

"Lucy will observe primitive remnants from farther out in the solar system, while Psyche will directly observe the interior of a planetary body," NASA's Planetary Science Director Jim Green said. "These additional pieces of the puzzle will help us understand how the sun and its family of planets formed, changed over time, and became places where life could develop and be sustained - and what the future may hold."

Some of the ways that scientists have been able to measure the age of the universe in the past involved studying old objects and seeing how fast they are expanding. Research indicates that the universe is around 13.8 billion years old.

Psyche, 130-mile long asteroid and rare object in the solar system, is believed to be the exposed core of a former planet that lost its outer layers billions of years ago. If the moving metal rock was somehow mined and brought back to Earth it could be worth quadrillions.

The NASA-funded mission for Psyche was not scheduled to reach the asteroid until 2030. The moving rock is a "unique metal asteroid that’s never been visited before," said NASA Science Mission Directorate associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen.