Asteroid containing minerals worth billions set to pass close to Earth

Asteroid containing minerals worth billions set to pass close to Earth

A rather valuable asteroid has passed by Earth over the weekend.

Asteroid UW158 passed by at six times the distance between Earth and the moon - still relatively close for a future asteroid mining mission.

So what makes this asteroid so valuable then?

Well, the body, which is just under a kilometre in diameter, has a core made out of platinum.

In fact, Forbes reported that the platinum core is worth roughly five trillion dollars.

Work is already underway to develop asteroid mining, with private firm Planetary Resources testing technology on the International Space Station this week.

The company's Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) spacecraft was launched from the ISS's airlock on a 90-day mission.

A3R is a testbed for future spacecraft that will travel to asteroids, being used to test navigation, avionics and software.

So hopefully by the time the next valuable asteroid flies past Earth, we're in a position to do more than just point it out