NASA admit asteroid worth $10,000 QUADRILLION would sink world economy

Science

The space rock – dubbed “16 Psyche” – is approximately 252km (156 miles) wide and is part of a belt of asteroids in the inner solar system.

The US space agency has now fast-forwarded its plans to send a rocket to the asteroid – bringing it forward to 2022.

Psyche is made up entirely of nickel and iron, which are the exact same materials at the Earth’s core.

This – as well as its sheer size – had led experts to believe the asteroid is actually the remains of a planet.

But the value of just the iron alone if the asteroid was transported back to Earth, would be $10,000 quadrillion (£8,072 quadrillion).

NASAasteroid Psyche 16

This would be enough to cause the world’s economy – worth $73.7 trillion – to collapse altogether.

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 previously: "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?"

The mission to Psyche will also help space experts defend the planet against catastrophic asteroid collisions.

At 252 km-wide, the asteroid is early 17 times bigger than the asteroid that led to the extinction of dinosaurs millions of years ago.

It is thought that by studying the rock, scientists can better learn how to defend Earth against the threat.

Source: dailystar