Space harbours many wonders beyond what we can imagine. And while we have been trying to discover more about the infinitely large universe out there, there are always things that will surprise us.
And we can only imagine how fascinating it will be to live in space.
It was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope
The biggest challenge that comes with space colonization is that we need to find water, oxygen, metals, and fuel – and somehow all these things are incredibly precious in space since they are extremely rare.
So what could be the most expensive material to find in the universe?
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered an extremely rare and valuable asteroid in our solar system. It’s orbiting the sun while residing in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
It is the dead core of a planet that was destroyed in our solar system
Named “16 Psyche” – the discovery of this asteroid was published in the Planetary Science Journal. It is approximately 370 million kilometers away from Earth. The diameter of this asteroid is about 226 kilometers.
But that’s not what that makes it interesting.
The amazing thing about this asteroid is that while most asteroids are made of rocks, this one is pure metal. A completely metallic asteroid is so rare that it has been seen for the first time ever.
Since it’s only iron and nickel, it is possible that it could have been the core of a planet that was destroyed between Mars and Jupiter, and turned into the asteroid belt that we see today.
Worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000 – but can we get near it?
Considering the size of the asteroid, and the fact that is made entirely of iron and nickel – its price could be worth $10,000 quadrillion or $10 billion billion. This is not just the price of these metals according to Earth standards, but also due to the reason since this asteroid is pure metal, there will be no need for mining or a lot of purification if metals are extracted from here.
Although it’s possible that the asteroid could be highly magnetized, which could throw the electrical equipment off the chart if they are brought near it.
Elon Musk is already on it, anyway.
NASA has already targeted the exploration of asteroid Psyche with the launch of NASA Discovery Mission Psyche, which is expected to be launched in 2022. The Psyche space probe will be sent atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and will reach the asteroid by 2026, and hopefully uncover its exact metal content and other facets.
All Featured Images Courtesy: Nuren