When discussing asteroids, we usually discuss how dangerous they could be. You know, how if a large one or several collided with the Earth, it would be our planet’s destruction.
However, what few of us usually hear about is how valuable asteroids can be. And by valuable, I mean worth quintillions of dollars.
For instance, there is an asteroid named 16 Psyche by NASA that is estimated to be worth about $10 quintillion. Written out numerically, that’s $10,000,000,000,000,000,000.
Can you imagine what a nation such as the United States, which has over $32 trillion in debt, could do with that?
Naturally, there are a great many in Washington who would love it if we could get our hands on that kind of spontaneous infusion. Of course, it’s not like NASA has no interest in the idea either, although not necessarily for the money it’s supposedly worth.
Instead, it’s more of a massive science project for the space industry.
According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, they are a mere 100 days out from launching their Psyche spacecraft for what could be the first of many exploratory missions.
But while Biden’s administration focuses more on the asteroid’s supposed monetary value, NASA wants to study the early planetary formation and planetary cores, according to Business Insider. Supposedly, the asteroid is believed to be a partial core of a small, planet-like body. Of course, it’s also supposed to be made up mostly of gold, iron, and nickel – hence the potential “get out of jail free” card the Biden administration could be handed.
Even more interesting is that 16 Psyche isn’t even the most valuable asteroid out there.
According to most data, this particular object seems to be of average size and value. Besides, it’s believed to be part of a much larger belt of similarly “metal-rich” asteroids.
So either this is exactly the kind of savior the Biden administration needs, or it is the beginning of what could be a space mining industry that’s likely to be worth trillions of dollars by 2040.
In any case, 16 Psyche could be the start of something very good – or its complete destruction, should it change course…
