The asteroid Psyche is estimated to be worth up to 10 trillion USD. It is a true treasure trove of rare elements and precious metals.
This asteroid was discovered by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis on March 17, 1852. He named the asteroid after the Greek goddess of the soul, who was born a mortal and married the god of love, Eros, better known as Cupid.
The Luxurious Asteroid
This asteroid is also known as 16 Psyche because it is the sixteenth asteroid discovered. The immense value of 16 Psyche arises from the fact that it consists of extremely rare elements, including platinum and palladium. These materials are crucial for automobiles and electronic devices on Earth.
According to NASA, the potato-shaped asteroid 16 Psyche has a surface area of 165,800 km2, with a composition that could contain 30 – 60% metal. NASA experts believe that this metal is actually the exposed iron-nickel core of a proto-planet, also referred to as a planetoid, one of the building blocks of the Solar System.
A planetoid is thought to have caused a massive collision that helped form our Moon. By combining radar and optical observations, scientists have created a 3D model of Psyche, revealing significant variations in metal content and color compared to its surface.
The composition of 16 Psyche could contain 30 – 60% metal.
However, until someone gets a close look at 16 Psyche, no one can be sure what this asteroid actually looks like or what it is made of.
This asteroid orbits the Sun, between Mars and Jupiter, at a distance ranging from 378 to 497 million km from the Sun. This distance is about three times farther from the Sun than we are, and it would take approximately six years to reach there from Earth.
In October 2023, the space agency launched the Psyche mission to approach this legendary asteroid. However, scientists stated that they are not driven by a gold rush but by a desire to learn more about Earth’s core and how the cores of other rocky planets formed.
This asteroid is likely the remnant of many violent collisions, which commonly occurred during the formation of the Solar System. “Psyche provides a unique perspective on the history of the collisions and accretion that created the planets on Earth,” NASA noted.
The investigation also aims to determine whether the 280 km wide rock is indeed the core of a planetoid.
Unclear Economics of Mining
But will other, more financially-minded organizations follow NASA’s lead and embark on their own journey to this asteroid?
Philip Metzger, a planetary physicist at the University of Central Florida, thinks so. He noted that the only difference between mining on Earth and on an asteroid is that it requires equipment capable of withstanding low gravity and high radiation conditions.
This equipment also needs to be autonomous, as it can take over 20 minutes for a radio wave containing instructions to reach an asteroid, especially if it is on the other side of the Sun. Moreover, this technology exists and has been tested in laboratories, although it is not yet fully ready for use.
Metzger stated that on NASA’s Technology Readiness Level scale, which ranges from 1 to 9, current space mining equipment falls between 3 and 5. “The technologies need to be advanced to about 6 or 7 before we are ready to start building a flight mission. The missing component right now is funding,” he added.
Kevin Cannon, from the Space Resources Program at the Colorado School of Mines, noted that any advancements in asteroid mining will likely come from the private sector. However, mining asteroids is not easy.
Cannon remarked that bringing materials back to Earth is “economically unclear,” emphasizing that doing so would be astronomically expensive, while platinum-group metals are currently decreasing in price.
However, Psyche could also be an important source of raw materials needed for space exploration and settlement. Meanwhile, metals mined from asteroids could turn into large architectural projects and human bases in space.
