Metal Asteroid Mission

Nasa plans to explore a $10,000 quadrillion asteroid in 2023.

20:10 18 January 2017

16 Psyche, a huge chunk of metal made up of iron, nickel and precious metals, is one of the mysterious objects in our solar system. It is 230 million miles away from Earth and if brought back in our planet, it could be worth $10,000 quadrillion (£8,072 quadrillion).

 

Nasa’s newly confirmed mission will see scientists explore this asteroid in 2023. However, there are no plans of bringing it back to Earth as it is too large to destroy commodity prices and cause the world’s economy, currently worth $73.7 trillion (£59.5 trillion), to collapse.

 

Lindy Elkins-Tanton the lead scientist on the Nasa mission and the director of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration, said: '16 Psyche is the only known object of its kind in the solar system, and this is the only way humans will ever visit a core.

 

'We learn about inner space by visiting outer space.'

 

Dr Elkins-Tanton said: 'Even if we could grab a big metal piece and drag it back here, what would you do?

'Could you kind of sit on it and hide it and control the global resource - kind of like diamonds are controlled corporately - and protect your market?

 

'What if you decided you were going to bring it back and you were just going to solve the metal resource problems of humankind for all time? This is wild speculation obviously.'