An intriguing asteroid in the asteroid belt, 16 Psyche, named after the ancient Greek goddess of the soul, has been one of the most studied, and mysterious objects in our solar system.

Located between Mars and Jupiter, it is postulated that Psyche may have started out as a planet that got bumped around so badly during the formation of the solar system that the outer layers of rock were blasted away.

The leftovers is a chunk of metal made up almost entirely of iron and nickel, just like earth. And scientists believe that it could contain a number of other rare metals like gold, platinum, copper, cobalt, iridium and rhenium, worth, in the quadrillions!

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An artist’s rendering of the 16 Psyche, an asteroid orbiting our sun between Mars and Jupiter. The actual body may look quite different. [Photo Source]

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The asteroid has a 200-kilometer-wide body, and it is estimated that if it could somehow be transported back to our planet, the iron it contains alone would be worth US $10,000 quadrillion.

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the lead scientist on the NASA mission said

Even 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? This is wild speculation obviously.

I cannot fathom what really will happen, but one thing to note is that the gross world product (GWP) in 2015 was only about $73.7 trillion, so if this "wealth" is to be dumped on the world, then our economy would most probably collapse, and maybe a new system starts.

But the very fact that we are now talking riches coming from beyond our planet, gives me the shivers, as we all know what human greed can bring about.

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Also Check this short video: Psyche and Lucy - New NASA Missions To Metal and Trojan Asteroids - YouTube

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Sources for the post and further reading

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1. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6713
2. http://www.space.com/24284-asteroid-psyche-magnetic-metal-space-rock-infographic.html
3. http://globalnews.ca/news/3175097/nasa-plans-mission-to-a-metal-rich-asteroid-worth-quadrillions/
4. https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/psyche-unexpected-discoveries-metal-world
5. http://www.universetoday.com/122764/mission-to-the-metal-world-the-psyche-mission/
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_Psyche

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