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THE ASTEROID NASA PLANS TO CATCH IS WORTH HUNDRED QUINTILLION DOLLARS

Published: 2024-11-21 18:57:54 Last Updated: 2024-11-21 19:12:16

NASA launched a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket last month to investigate 16 Psyche, one of the biggest M-type asteroids ever found. The main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is where the spacecraft will reach its destination, which is 2.2 billion miles (3.5 billion km) away. Rock and ice make up the majority of asteroids that we are aware of, but this one is unique.
16 Psyche's enormous monetary value stems from the metals it is made of, which have the potential to significantly boost our economy.
Platinum and palladium, two of its elements, are necessary for automobiles and electronics on this planet. NASA is looking into 16 Psyche because it is the largest of the nine metal-rich asteroids known to exist in our solar system. With a surface area of roughly 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometres), this strangely shaped asteroid is estimated by the US space agency to contain between 30 and 60 percent metal.
One of the components of our solar system, the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, may also be found there. And we could all become billionaires if 16 Psyche were somehow brought back to Earth and dismantled for our benefit.
Platinum and palladium, two of its elements, are necessary for automobiles and electronics on this planet. Consider what would occur if the asteroid's contents were valued at $10 trillion, and every living person received a portion of that fortune. By 2023, there will be about 8.025 billion people on the planet.

Therefore, by dividing $10 trillion by our population, we would each receive $1,246,105,919 in total.

Even though this sounds like a perfect dream, there would be some problems with the scenario, one of which is that our economy would collapse.

And you wouldn't be nearly as wealthy as the wealthiest people in society, even if you had $1.25 billion.

Consider the richest man in the world, Elon Musk. At $313.9 billion, his net worth is actually 250 times greater than the asteroid payout. NASA will visit 16 Psyche to gain more knowledge about planetary cores and planet formation, not just to extract its valuable metals. We still have a while to wait, as SpaceX's rocket isn't anticipated to arrive at its destination until July 2029. "Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets," according to NASA's Psyche mission webpage.

Finding out if the asteroid is indeed the centre of a planetesimal—a rock from the solar system's early history—is another goal of the investigation.

Article Tags: Viral Space X Minerals Space Hundred quintillion ASteroid NASA