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There Are 10,000 Quintillion Reasons for NASA to Travel to Asteroid 16 Psyche

9/5/2021

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NASA is planning a mission up to an asteroid that is hurtling around in our solar system, and it could be a seriously lucrative mission if it is a success.

In fact, the number, in terms of the potential value of the precious metals that the asteroid may be composed of, is simply baffling, because it's supposedly worth more than $10,000 quintillion.

To put that into context, it's got 22 zeros after it. Written down, it looks like this - 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

It's worth enough to make everyone currently living on earth a billionaire. That's a lot of money.

Anyway, the asteroid with this unfathomable wealth of precious metals stashed away on it is called Psyche 16, and it was discovered back in March 1852.

The 124-mile space rock is set to become the primary focus of a NASA mission which is set for lift off in August 2022.

If it does go ahead, the craft would arrive on the asteroid about four years later.

This would be the first mission that humans have sent to somewhere that is made of metal, rather than rock and ice, as NASA said: "Unlike most other asteroids that are rocky or icy bodies, scientists think the M-type (metallic) asteroid 16 Psyche is comprised mostly of metallic iron and nickel similar to Earth."

It turns out that those sorts of metals in that quantity are worth a hell of a lot.

Of course, there is the question of how you would extract that worth, given that it's floating around in space some four years travel away, but that's something that NASA will presumably intend to scope out on this prospective mission.

So, the asteroid sits between Mars and Jupiter and is thought to have been the 'remnants of a protoplanet' that was destroyed in hit-and-run collisions when the solar system formed', according to the Daily Mail.

Researchers in a recent study said: "The findings are a step toward resolving the mystery of the origin of this unusual object, which has been thought by some to be a chunk of the core of an ill-fated protoplanet."

Katherine de Kleer, assistant professor of planetary science and astronomy at Caltech, added: "We think that fragments of the cores, mantles, and crusts of these objects remain today in the form of asteroids.

"If that's true, it gives us our only real opportunity to study the cores of planet-like objects."
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Also, it might be worth an unimaginable amount of money, so it's probably worth inspecting.

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    Rick Richardson, CPA, CITP, CGMA

    Rick is the editor of the weekly newsletter, Technology This Week. You can subscribe to it by visiting the website.

    Rick is also the Managing Partner of Richardson Media & Technologies, LLC. Prior to forming his current company, he had a 28-year career in technology with Ernst & Young, the last twelve years of which he served as National Director of Technology.

    Mr. Richardson has been named to the "Technology 100"- the annual honors list of the 100 key achievers in technology in America. He has also been honored by the American Institute of CPAs with two Lifetime Achievement awards and a Special Career Recognition Award for his contributions to the profession in the field of technology.

    In 2012, Rick was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame by CPA Practice Advisor Magazine. He has also been named to the 100 most influential individuals in the accounting profession in America by Accounting Today magazine.

    In 2017, Rick was inducted as a Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achiever, a registry of professionals who have excelled in their fields for many years and achieved greatness in their industry.

    He is a sought after speaker around the world, providing his annual forecast of future technology trends to thousands of business executives, professionals, community leaders, educators and students.

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