Back in 2023, NASA launched a spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to investigate an asteroid believed to be worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000.
The faraway asteroid, named 16 Psyche, is one of the largest M-type asteroids ever discovered and is thought to be composed of precious – and lucrative – metals, including gold, iron and nickel.
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A model of the asteroid, 16 Psyche (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
The asteroid is said to be so valuable, it could, hypothetically turn every single person on the planet into a billionaire, should its profits be shared among the entire population of the globe.
But, unfortunately, that’s not a realistic outcome.
In fact, despite NASA sending a spacecraft 2.5 billion miles away to investigate the space object, there are some pretty big hurdles that would need to be crossed before the metals could actually be mined from the asteroid.
But first, it’s important to understand why NASA is so keen to investigate this asteroid in particular.
Once the spacecraft reaches 16 Psyche, it will spend a couple of years gathering data before finishing the mission in November 2031.
According to NASA, the asteroid measures a whopping 173 miles (280 km) across and 144 miles (232 km) long, while its surface area is 64,000 square miles (165,800 square km).
And it’s the asteroid’s enormous size that made NASA decide to go ahead with the mission.
Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s science mission directorate, explained: “Psyche is by far the largest, and that’s why we want to go to it.
“Because the smaller ones are more likely to have been changed by things impacting them, whereas the big one, we think, is going to be completely unchanged.”
Meanwhile, in a statement, NASA added that the voyage could ‘tell us more about planetary cores and how planets form’.
The spacecraft took off last October (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Following the news that 16 Psyche is so valuable, many people have wondered if there is a possibility that the asteroid could be mined.
Unfortunately, as nice as it would be for every person to become a billionaire, in reality, it could crash the world’s economy – kind of like if every living person won the lottery jackpot.
Monday Morning Economist have explained this further, pointing out that an increase in the supply of precious metals would likely send the economy spiralling.
“Valuing Psyche 16 at $10,000 quadrillion is wild. Why? That value assumes current market prices. The increase in metal supply would likely send prices crashing down, making the asteroid less of a golden ticket than many people think,” they explain.
“A flood of precious metals into Earth’s markets would most likely crash those markets and make the price of those metals almost worthless.”
But it’s not the only issue.
According to Live Science, at 2.5 billion miles away, 16 Psyche is too far away for extraction to be cost-effective.
Its elements include platinum and palladium, which are essential to cars and electronics here on Earth.
There are nine metal-rich asteroids known to exist in our solar system, but 16 Psyche is the largest – which is why NASA is investigating it.
The US space agency estimates that this oddly shaped asteroid, which has a surface area of about 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometres), is made up of 30 to 60 percent metal.
It could also contain the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet which is one of the building blocks of our solar system.
And if, for some reason, 16 Psyche was brought back to Earth and broken down for our gain, we could all become billionaires.
A model of the Psyche 16 asteroid (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Let’s take a look at what would happen if the asteroid’s materials really were worth $10 trillion dollars, and that wealth was divided between every single living person.
There are some 8.025 billion humans alive as of 2023.
So dividing $10 trillion by our population would give us each a total of $1,246,105,919.
While this sounds like an absolute dream, the scenario would pose some issues – namely that our economy would disintegrate.
And even with $1.25 billion to your name, you still wouldn’t be anywhere near as well-off as the very richest of society.
Take Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, for example.
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SpaceX founder Elon Musk would still be 250 times richer than all of us (Chesnot/Getty Images)
His net worth is actually worth 250 times more than the asteroid pay-out, at $313.9 billion.
However, NASA aren’t going to 16 Psyche purely to harvest its precious metals, but to learn more about planetary cores and how planets form.
Plus, SpaceX’s rocket isn’t expected to reach its destination until July 2029, so we’ve got a while to wait yet.
NASA states on its Psyche mission webpage: “Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets.”
The investigation also aims to find out whether the asteroid really is the core of a planetesimal, a rock from the very early days of the solar system.
