Is NASA mining asteroids?

No, we’re not in the business of mining asteroids but we do love to study them. This year, our #PsycheMission launches to a unique metal-rich asteroid to study what appears to be the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, one of the building blocks of our solar system. The science we gain from missions like this could one day benefit future humans in cosmic mining and resource endeavors.

And in September, our OSIRIS-REx mission will deliver an asteroid sample back to Earth. Analysis from the sample may help improve future asteroid missions.