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The asteroid, called 16 Psyche, is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. NASA plans to launch a solar space probe to the asteroid in 2022, expected to arrive in 2026. It will then spend two years studying the metallic composition of asteroids.
Telescope observations suggest that it is mainly composed of nickel and iron.
However, according to NBC News experts, they could also contain precious metals such as gold and platinum, which could be worth thousands of billions of pounds.
NASA has ambitious plans for manned and unmanned space travel over the next decade.
NASA wants to resume space missions from the US for the first time since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.
READ MORE: A NASA bomb – The head of the agency reveals that nuclear is changing the game
Vice President Mike Pence announced in March that he wished to hand over astronauts to the Moon by 2024, although he set his previous goal to 2028.
American astronaut Eugene Andrew Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon in 1972.
US President Donald Trump has not yet said he supports the mission.
In June, the president asked NASA to focus on "much bigger" initiatives like going to Mars.
Addressing engineering students at the University of Colorado at Boulder Friday, NASA's administrator, Jim Bridenstine, suggested that an all-female crew be sent on a mission.
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One student asked during the live session whether NASA had considered sending an all-female crew for the Artemis session.
Mr. Bridenstine said: "Have we considered it? Yes, and it would not surprise me if that's what we did."
He also said that the crew had not yet been chosen, but that the first American and the next American would visit the Moon by 2024.
He added, "We could have a crew of two women on the moon five years from now."
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