Elon Musk’s wealth pales in comparison to the incredible value of a certain asteroid.
An asteroid estimated to be worth an astonishing $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 ($10 quintillion) might sound like something people would be aware of, right?
In fact, this asteroid was discovered 172 years ago, but it wasn’t until the previous year that it gained significant attention.
Named ‘Asteroid Psyche,’ NASA describes it as ‘a unique, metal-rich world.’
According to NASA’s website: “One of the most intriguing objects in the main asteroid belt, Psyche is a giant metal-rich asteroid, about three times farther away from the Sun than is Earth.
“Psyche has an irregular, potato-like shape. If it were sliced in half horizontally at the equator – picture a squished oval – it would measure 173 miles (280 kilometers) across at its widest point and 144 miles (232 kilometers) long. Its surface area is 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometers).”
Research suggests the asteroid comprises ‘a mixture of rock and metal, with metal composing 30 percent to 60 percent of its volume’—metals of immense value.
Last year, NASA announced plans to embark on a mission to explore this asteroid.
In a statement released in July, NASA said: “Teams of engineers and technicians are working almost around the clock to ensure the orbiter is ready to journey 2.5 billion miles to a metal-rich asteroid that may tell us more about planetary cores and how planets form.”
The spacecraft embarked on its mission, launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 13 October 2023.
The vessel is scheduled to pass by Mars in May 2026, using the planet’s gravity to increase speed. If all goes according to plan, by July 2029, the gravity of asteroid Psyche will capture the spacecraft after traveling approximately 2.2 billion miles (3.6 billion kilometers).
Upon reaching its destination, the spacecraft will conduct its primary mission, collecting scientific data while orbiting the asteroid from August 2029 to November 2031.
Interestingly, it was back in 1852 that Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis discovered the asteroid.
The name 16 Psyche reflects its position as the 16th asteroid discovered, and it is also named after Psyche, the goddess of the soul in Greek mythology, often portrayed as a butterfly-winged female figure.
NASA shared intriguing details about the asteroid, including its orbit around the Sun in the outer part of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, at a distance approximately three times that of Earth’s orbit from the Sun.
The Psyche mission has seen NASA invest around $1.2 billion for its development, launch, and operation.
This investment includes about $131 million for launch services and the Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) technology demonstration, with the DSOC development and operation costing an additional $206 million.
It’s a significant investment for a celestial body, but the potential benefits of this discovery for humanity could be monumental.