NASA chases a valuable asteroid that could make everyone on Earth rich

1 Jul 2019

NASA chases a valuable asteroid that could make everyone on Earth rich

NASA chases a valuable asteroid that could make everyone on Earth richNASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is planning a probe mission to an asteroid called 16 Psyche in 2022 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission is led by Arizona State University.
 	16 Psyche is an M-type (metallic) asteroid, comprised of metals like gold, situated between Mars and Jupiter.
 	16 Psyche is estimated to be worth US$10,000 quadrillion* (the world's economy was worth about $US85 trillion in 2018).

It is estimated that if the asteroid was brought back to Earth and the profits divided equally, everyone would become billionaires instantly.

More than its valuable metals, NASA has a deeper interest in studying 16 Psyche.

It believes that 16 Psyche appears to be an "exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet."
 	The asteroid study would provide a unique look into the solar system’s distant past and could then tell how exactly our own earth’s core and the cores of other planets were formed.

16 Psyche was first discovered in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis.

*Quadrillion - US$1 quadrillion = US$1000 trillion

Image Credits: www.nasa.gov

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NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is planning a probe mission to an asteroid called 16 Psyche in 2022 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. […]

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