NASA's Psyche mission, arriving in 2029, will study a metal-rich asteroid that may be an exposed planetary core. While headlines claim it's worth quintillions, the real value lies in understanding how planets form and advancing space resource technology.
Autonomous robot swarms will begin asteroid mining in 2026, led by China's Tianwen-2 mission and private companies like AstroForge. These missions target water and metals that could revolutionize space economics and enable deep-space exploration.
Asteroids contain trillions in precious metals, but extraction costs, market paradoxes, legal ambiguity, and immature technology mean profitable mining remains 15-20 years away. The real value lies in using resources in space for fuel and infrastructure, not shipping them to Earth.
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