Experts reveal biggest hurdle in capturing asteroid worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 that would 'give everyone on Earth $1,246,105,919 each'
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.
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.
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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'.
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.
There goes our billion dollars, then.
Lucy Devine