An asteroid valued at $10 quintillion could, in theory, make every person on Earth a billionaire. Hypothetically, of course.
Last month, NASA launched a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to explore 16 Psyche, one of the largest M-type asteroids ever discovered.
The spacecraft will journey 2.2 billion miles (3.5 billion kilometers) to reach its destination, situated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
While most asteroids are made of rock and ice, 16 Psyche stands out due to its metallic composition, which could offer significant economic benefits — contributing to its immense value.
16 Psyche is rich in elements like platinum and palladium, which are crucial for industries like automotive and electronics on Earth.
While there are nine known metal-rich asteroids in our solar system, 16 Psyche is the largest, making it the primary target of NASA’s investigation.
NASA estimates that this uniquely shaped asteroid, with a surface area of about 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometers), is composed of 30 to 60 percent metal. It might even contain the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet, offering insight into the building blocks of our solar system.
If, hypothetically, 16 Psyche were to be brought to Earth and mined for its resources, the vast wealth it could provide might just make every person on Earth a billionaire.
Let’s imagine what would happen if the asteroid’s materials were truly worth $10 trillion and that wealth was shared among every person alive today.
As of 2023, there are approximately 8.025 billion people on Earth.
If we divided $10 trillion by the global population, each person would receive about $1.25 billion.
While that sounds like an incredible windfall, this scenario would create some serious problems, particularly for the economy, which could collapse under the weight of such sudden wealth.
Even with $1.25 billion in your bank account, you still wouldn’t come close to the fortune of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Take Elon Musk, for example. He’s the richest person on Earth, but even with his immense wealth, he’s far from being a “billionaire” in this hypothetical world.
Elon Musk’s net worth is actually 250 times greater than the hypothetical payout from the asteroid, currently standing at $313.9 billion.
However, NASA’s mission to 16 Psyche isn’t just about harvesting precious metals. The primary goal is to gain insight into planetary cores and the process of planet formation.
The SpaceX rocket isn’t expected to reach its destination until July 2029, so there’s still quite a wait ahead.
As NASA states on its Psyche mission webpage: “Psyche offers a unique window into the violent history of collisions and accretion that created terrestrial planets.”
The mission also aims to determine whether 16 Psyche is indeed the exposed core of a planetesimal, a chunk of rock from the early days of the solar system. Understanding this could provide valuable clues about the formation of planets and the processes that shaped our solar system.
