As April is ending, I realized we have yet to dive in to two major areas of exploration geoscience—outer space and deepwater basins—which are the focus of this week’s Core Elements. From sky-high asteroid finds to deep ocean discoveries, let’s launch into this adventurous edition …

Rasoul Sorkhabi

Editor, Core Elements

The Mission to Orbit a Metallic Asteroid

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Between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, there’s a belt of asteroids that possibly failed to combine into a planet during the Solar System’s formation. There are three types of these asteroids: rocky, icy, and metallic.

A metallic marvel: About 10 percent of these asteroids are metallic. One of the metallic asteroids is 16 Psyche, discovered in 1852.

What’s new: Named after the Greek goddess of the soul, 16 Psyche is now the target of a space mission.

The mission: The project is conducted by NASA and Arizona State University.

• The Psyche mission aims to study the topography, geology, precise chemistry and gravitational properties of the asteroid.

• It began in 2017 with a budget of $1 billion.

• The spacecraft will travel for 26 months and will arrive at its destination in August 2029.

• It will not land on the asteroid but will circle it at different heights and take measurements.

• The circling of the spacecraft will be powered by solar panels.

Why it matters:

• Metallic asteroids provide clues to the nature of Earth’s core, which is also metallic but inaccessible to humans.

• Metallic asteroids may also be a major source of metals. According to an article in the Harvard International Review, asteroid mining would generate trillions of dollars and save our planet from the hazards of mining for precious metals—but we would have to land on the asteroids first.

• It’s estimated that 16 Psyche alone holds gold worth $700 quintillion (of course, if this gold comes to market gradually).

Go deeper: Read more about the Psyche 16 mission here or on the Psyche Mission official website.

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The Recent Atlantic Deepwater Discovery Boom

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March and April have been big months for deepwater discoveries on both sides of the Atlantic. Here’s a look at four of the most recent announcements and their geological significance.

Calao in Côte d'Ivoire, led by Eni

• Named Calao, this discovery in March is the second largest in Côte d'Ivoire after Eni’s discovery of the Baleine field in 2022.

• The block is jointly operated by Eni and the state oil company Petroci Holding.

• Preliminary estimates place the potential reserves between 1 and 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

• Read more here.

Stabroek in Offshore Guyana, led by ExxonMobil

• Also in March, the discovery well Bluefin in the Stabroek block was drilled in water depths of 1,294 m and struck oil in a 60-meter-thick sandstone reservoir.

• The Stabroek block has an area of 6.6 million acres and is home to 30 fields that have been discovered since 2015.

• Find out more here.

Potiguar Basin in Offshore Brazil, led by Petrobras

• This is the second Petrobras-led discovery in the offshore Potiguar basin in 2024. Earlier this year, Petrobras drilled the Pitu Oeste Well, located in the BM-POT-17 Concession, around 24 km from Anhangá.  

• The discovery well, Anhangá, is located in water depths of 2,196 m and found hydrocarbons in turbidite sandstone of Albian age.

• Learn more here.

Mopane-2X in Namibia’s Orange Basin, led by Galp Energia

• Most recently, Portuguese operator Galp announced the discovery well named Mopane-2X. It's about 8 km to the west of the Mopane-1X discovery, which was made in January 2024, and is from the same sandstone reservoir.

• Hydrocarbon in-place estimates are 10 billion boe for the Mopane field.

Geological significance: At first glance, it might seem like these offshore discoveries are unrelated. But they have deep geologic connections.

• The central-south Atlantic Ocean opened during Cretaceous times.

• The oil and gas producing reservoirs in all of these fields are also Cretaceous age; these rock formations were deposited during the early opening of the Atlantic.

• Some petroleum fields on the South Atlantic margin, specifically Venus and Graff offshore Namibia, apparently sit atop the oceanic crust.

• This opens a new ultradeep frontier for exploration. How petroleum fields can develop atop the oceanic crust is poorly understood; the new discoveries provide key analogs to investigate this geologic enigma.

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