An asteroid loaded with $10 quintillion worth of metals edges closer to US reach

• NASA says it’s under 100 days away from launching a spacecraft to study a valuable asteroid.
• The asteroid is thought to be made up of $10 quintillion worth of gold, iron, and nickel.
• A SpaceX rocket is set to launch the spacecraft to the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA announced Tuesday that it was under 100 days away from launching a spacecraft designed to study an asteroid potentially worth $10 quintillion.

The space agency’s Jet Propulsion Lab said it had recently completed a comprehensive test of the flight software and installed it on the spacecraft. That cleared a key hurdle that caused the probe to miss its original 2022 launch date.