An asteroid rich in valuable metals and estimated to be worth an astonishing $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 – or $10 quintillion for short – has captured the attention of scientists at NASA.
Dubbed 16 Psyche, the massive space rock is so valuable it could theoretically make every person on Earth a billionaire—if its wealth were divided equally.
Measuring over 220 kilometers across, the asteroid is believed to contain a wealth of metals, including platinum and palladium, both critical for manufacturing cars and electronics. Its potential value, however, is not NASA’s primary focus.
Instead, the mission aims to unlock secrets about the asteroid’s composition and origins, which could offer profound insights into the early formation of our solar system.
A Long Journey to 16 Psyche
The asteroid was first discovered in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis and has intrigued researchers ever since.
But in October 2023, NASA launched the Psyche spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to study the asteroid in detail.
The spacecraft, now traveling through deep space, is on course to reach 16 Psyche in August 2029.
Once there, it will orbit the asteroid rather than landing on it, allowing scientists to analyze its surface and composition remotely.
A CGI rendering from NASA shows the spacecraft’s anticipated approach, and it is expected to confirm that the asteroid is composed of 30% to 60% metal.
What Could $10 Quintillion Do?
The estimated worth of 16 Psyche’s metals is nearly incomprehensible: $10 quintillion.
The asteroid is about 173 miles long and 144 miles across and is thought to contain between 30 and 60 percent iron and nickel.
So, theoretically, if it was brought to earth and somehow mined – a near impossible task – it would solve the earth’s metal resource problem’s in one feel swoop – and make everyone rich.
If the spoils were divided among the world’s 8 billion people, the resources equate to around £1.2 billion per person. However, such a scenario is purely hypothetical and unlikely to ever happen.
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Introducing that much wealth into Earth’s economy would likely trigger chaos, destabilizing global markets and sending the free market into a tailspin.
For NASA, the focus is firmly on science, not wealth. By studying 16 Psyche, researchers hope to better understand planetary cores and the processes that shape our universe.
Unlocking the Asteroid’s Origins
One intriguing theory suggests that 16 Psyche could be the exposed core of a planetesimal, an early planetary building block stripped of its outer layers during violent collisions billions of years ago.
Another hypothesis involves ‘ferro-volcanism,’ a rare geological process where liquid metal erupts from beneath a planetary surface.
Regardless of its true origins, scientists won’t have definitive answers until after the Psyche mission concludes in the 2030s.
For now, the mission represents an unprecedented opportunity to study a metal-rich asteroid up close and to uncover more about the building blocks of our solar system.