Forbes estimates that the gold, nickel, and iron in the asteroid with precious metals “16 Psyche” is valued at over $10,000 quadrillion. Located in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, 16 Psyche is a giant asteroid with precious metals. NASA claims that the sizeable metal-rich asteroid Psyche, which is almost threefold further from the Sun than the planet, represents one of the most fascinating objects in the primary asteroid belt.
Its typical diameter is around 140 miles (226 kilometers), approximately the distance from Los Angeles and San Diego. NASA further speculated that Psyche could represent the fragmented remnant of a planetesimal, the primordial building block of planets about the dimension of a city or small nation. If so, Psyche might provide a rare window into the innermost parts of Earth and other terrestrial planets.
The Universe’s Most Precious Asteroids
Iron, nickel, platinum, and other rare metals may be found in these interplanetary rocks.
- Steroskopia
- Winchester
- 16 Psyche
- Lachesis
- Diotima
- Davida
- Alauda
- Chiron
- Palma
Even if you could overcome all of the technological obstacles associated with mining an asteroid with precious metals—which would need machines, spaceships, and other tech that isn’t available today—you still wouldn’t become filthy wealthy overnight.
Asteroid mining for metals is a real possibility in the far-off future. However, once those metals enter the marketplace here on the planet, the surplus supply is expected to bring prices crashing down. When gold, platinum, and other metals are readily available in sufficient quantities, they will lose their “precious” status.
In addition, the worth of metals is not reflected in their prices. The value they bring in makes them costly. Before it was utilized to create automobile components, steel was simply steel. Silver’s rising cost may be attributed to its growing demand in photovoltaics.
The gold may support current industries on Earth in a massive asteroid, but this would lead to something other than an upsurge in manufacturing. A more excellent supply of gold may result from asteroid mining, but it doesn’t ensure demand would increase proportionally.
Asteroid Belt Full of Precious Metals
If only you could get a grip on even one of the more than one million asteroids now being monitored by astronomers, then it could be suitable for life. Worth, however, is a complex issue.
The positive aspect is that asteroids carrying various metals are relatively easy to discover. The asteroid belt stretches from Mars to Jupiter, where most of these treasures are located. More than a million asteroids call the asteroid belt their homes, with over 200 larger than Egypt at around 100 kilometers in diameter.
NASA estimates that there are around $700 quintillion worth of objects in the belt alone, or $100 million for each of the seven billion humans on the planet.
Davida is the most precious of all the asteroids in the belt. Its economic value is nearly $27 quintillion, and its diameter is 326 kilometers.
How Would Asteroid Mining Work?
It would initially be necessary to locate resource-rich asteroids. Enormous telescopes could represent the most efficient method to do this since it might be difficult to execute from a distance.
After the raw mineral has been located, it may be processed by being sent into a low-Earth orbit. However, this would need a great deal of fuel, so mining them in orbit and bringing back just the refined minerals might be an option.
Robotic prospectors may be utilized to locate automatically and mine desirable locations if we were to conduct on-site mining. After identifying the necessary elements, we may use heat and large mirrors to evaporate them, isolating them from the byproducts that will be returned to Earth.
Mining on a strip is another option. This would require excavating tunnels into the asteroid’s veins of material and peeling away its outermost layer to extract precious minerals. A vast umbrella would catch these riches as they floated away from the asteroid.
Asteroid Mining for Precious Metals
To put it another way, this is why Elon Musk, a billionaire, is willing to risk his money on cryptocurrency. He thinks that asteroid mining will eventually threaten gold’s position as a safe haven investment.
Even if you could overcome all of the technological obstacles associated with mining an asteroid—which would need robots, spaceships, and other equipment that isn’t available today—you still wouldn’t become filthy wealthy overnight.
Asteroid mining for metals is a real possibility in the far-off future. However, when those metals enter the marketplace here on Earth, the surplus supply is expected to bring prices crashing down. When gold, platinum, and other metals are readily available in sufficient quantities, they will lose their “precious” status.
In addition, the worth of metals is not reflected in their prices. The value that they bring in makes them costly. Before it was utilized to create automobile components, steel was simply steel. Silver’s rising cost may be attributed to its growing demand in photovoltaics.
Current industries on Earth may be supported by the gold in a massive asteroid, but this wouldn’t lead to an upsurge in manufacturing. A more excellent supply of gold may result from asteroid mining, but it doesn’t ensure demand would increase proportionally.
Conclusion
The space mining industry has developed to a level where hundreds of minor and major businesses are working on various parts of the “Space Asset Supply Chain.” The identical scenario may be the actual of a superpower with the resources to mine an asteroid. Businesses like Planetary Resource Corporation and Deep Space Industries already pursue this goal.
When most people hear the term “asteroid,” they immediately picture a certain kind of celestial object: a tiny globe or a distant thing from the interior of the solar system. However, a single asteroid is so loaded with valuables that if we could capture it and distribute the wealth evenly, everyone on Earth would instantly become a millionaire.