Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire NASA is going to an asteroid worth $10,000 Quadrillion

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiec...re-than-our-global-economy/#49d2854e515a


A new study by the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a clearer picture than ever before of one of the most intriguing and most valuable asteroids we know of.

It’s also one that NASA is planning to visit in 2026.

Here’s everything you need to know about “16 Psyche.”

What and where is ‘16 Psyche?’

About 230 million miles/370 million kilometers from Earth, Psyche—as it’s commonly known—is one of the most massive objects in the Solar System’s main asteroid belt orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

It’s about 140 miles/226 kilometers-wide and—unlike most asteroids, which are rocky or icy—Psyche appears to be metallic.

In fact, it’s so dense and metallic that Psyche is thought to be the leftover core of a planet that failed during its formation—a “protoplanet.”

What is ‘16 Psyche’ made of?

“We’ve seen meteorites that are mostly metal, but Psyche could be unique in that it might be an asteroid that is totally made of iron and nickel,” said Dr. Tracy Becker, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in in San Antonio, Texas, and author of the new paper published in the Planetary Science Journal this week.

Iron and nickel are often found in metallic meteorites and in the dense metal cores of planets. “Earth has a metal core, a mantle and crust,” said Becker.

Psyche is truly a one-of-a-kind object in the Solar System.

How much is ‘16 Psyche’ worth?

Some think that the metals that comprise Psyche could make be worth about $10,000 quadrillion. The global economy was worth about $142 trillion in 2019.

What happened to ‘16 Psyche?’

“It’s possible that as a Psyche protoplanet was forming, it was struck by an-other object in our solar system and lost its mantle and crust,” said Becker.

Becker’s study had the Hubble Space Telescope observe the asteroid at two specific points in its rotation to view both sides of Psyche. It also viewed the asteroid in ultraviolet wavelengths of light to get as much detail as possible of its surface. “We were able to identify for the first time on any asteroid what we think are iron oxide ultraviolet absorption bands,” said Becker. “This is an indication that oxidation is happening on the asteroid, which could be a result of the solar wind hitting the surface.”

The solar wind is a stream of charged particles from the Sun’s hotter outer atmosphere called its corona. Often called “space weather,” it’s also what causes aurora at Earth and could, at Psyche have caused excessive “space weathering.”

A surface of pure iron?

Becker saw that the asteroid’s surface could be mostly pure iron, though noted that the presence of even a small amount of iron could dominate ultraviolet observations, and in practice it could just be that 10% of the surface is actual iron.

However, while observing Psyche, the asteroid appeared increasingly reflective at deeper UV wavelengths. “This is something that we need to study further,” said Becker. “This could be indicative of it being exposed in space for so long. This type of UV brightening is often attributed to space weathering.”

However, what Becker’s paper makes very clear is that while it’s tricky to quantify the amount of iron that may be present on the surface of Psyche, it’s a unique object so scientists cannot compare it with anything else.

The only way we’ll ever get to see a close-up of what the core of a planet is really like is to pay a visit to Psyche. That’s exactly what NASA is planning to do.

Due to launch in August 2022 from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, NASA’s Psyche mission is part of its Discovery Program of low-cost robotic space missions.

The orbiter is due to arrive at Psyche in January 2026 to begin at least 21 months in orbit mapping and studying the asteroid’s properties.

“To understand what really makes up a planet and to potentially see the inside of a planet is fascinating,” said Becker, who describes Psyche and other asteroids as the building blocks of the Solar System. “Once we get to Psyche, we’re really going to understand if that’s the case, even if it doesn’t turn out as we expect ... any time there’s a surprise, it’s always exciting.”

How much is shipping?

Tow it home, let's cut it up.

Amazon Prime, be here Tuesday.

If you're an Amazon Prime Member, it's free.

A metal scrappers wet dream.

I hope they don't bump into the asteroids while searching. Might knock one out of place and up set gravity in the asteroids.

It would be utterly worthless even if solid gold.

It could not be mined in place without spending trillions of dollars to launch mining gear to it, not to mention the rocket power to return thousands of tons of ore back to Earth. Then you'd have the problem of how to de-orbit it through the atmosphere without creating another mass extinction event.

You could, in theory, change its orbit to bring it down to an orbit around Earth - but to do it slowly enough to be able to slow it down once it got here would take hundreds of years - at least. You'd then still be left with the problem of re-entry.

After all that, the very mass of it would flood the market and reduce its value to pennies a ton.

Quit being a realest. Let us dream, Like I dream about winning the Publishers Clearing house sweepstakes.

Oh, no. The sun has corona! Might be the end of the world! Terrible news.


The solar wind is a stream of charged particles from the Sun’s hotter outer atmosphere called its corona.

I don't think you have to move the asteroid anywhere. Develop the technology to mine it remotely and simply transfer ore as needed. It could prove useful as a resource in settling Mars or as raw material for other craft. You don't necessarily have to bring it to the surface to process the ore. Science fiction stuff to be sure, but finding resources is still exciting.

Naw, drop it off the Chinese coast. Clean up that problem, Hawaii and the west coast.

Is there enough material in it to build a..................











Death Star?

Heavy.

Quarter it in pieces like an elk. Same process, different (and expensive) carcass.

The national debt will be higher than that by the time we would be able to do anything with it. The theory has long been that the astroid belt was the remnant of a shattered planet. GD

So we spend trillions to make quadrillions? What’s the problem, exactly?

And where is that gold one? .

Dutch, the problem is that we'd have to spend trillions to get stuff back that by virtue of gross over-supply would then be next to worthless. That quadtrillions estimate is what it would be worth at our current prices - which are set by rarity.

Look at aluminum for example. In the middle ages, it was so hard to extract that it actually worth more than gold by weight. Today, it is so abundant that it is one of the cheapest metals out there.

Rocky, it is a grand plan to populate all those planets with TDS infected liberals. They need raw materials to build the infrastructure.