NASA is preparing to probe a giant asteroid that could be worth $10,000quadrillion.
Asteroid Psyche technically contains enough precious metals to make everyone on Earth a billionaire but it’s not the only valuable space rock out there.
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Here’s four more of the most valuable known asteroids that could make some people super rich.
Nereus
Some reports suggest an asteroid called Nereus is worth an estimated $5 billion (£3.7billion) in precious metals.
It could be one of the most cost-effective asteroids to leverage for mineral resources.
The asteroid is thought to contain billions worth of nickel, iron and cobalt.
Nereus travels at 14,719 miles per hour (23,688 km/h).
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While this may sound pretty fast, the asteroid is in fact a “slow” space rock compared to many other asteroids.
Nereus makes close approaches to Earth and is thought to be about 1,083 feet wide.
Davida
Davida is one of the biggest asteroids known to humankind and it’s thought to be the most valuable.
The 202 miles-wide rock is said to hold a number of rich bits.
Those include nickel, iron, cobalt, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia.
According to Asterank,it could be worth over $100trillion (£74trillion).
Chicago
There’s an asteroid called Chicago that’s also said to be worth over $100trillion (£74trillion).
It could be up to 124 miles wide and is thought to contain an array of important metals.
This includes plenty of cobalt and iron.
Ryugu
This asteroid has an estimated worth of $82.76billion.
Ryugu is often referred to as the most cost effective space rock to mine and it comes close enough to Earth for this to be possible.
It’s said to contain nickel, iron, cobalt, water, nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia.
The Japanese Hayabusa2 mission brought a small sample of the asteroid back to Earth in 2020.
It contains elements similar to those found in the Sun.
How could asteroids be mined?
No one is 100% sure what the first asteroid mine will look like but there’s plenty of designs and speculation floating around.
According to How Stuff Works, manned rockets could be sent to asteroids of interest along with plenty of robotic machinery to keep the humans required to a minimum.
Mining asteroids could be similar to mining processes on Earth, just with much more light weight equiptment.
It could involve scrapping the asteroid and creating a canopy around it to prevent the desired goods from floating into space.
Whatever the process looks like, it’s going to have to involve some anchoring down.
Asteroids have nearly no gravity so space miners and their equipment will have to be careful they don’t float away.
Whatever material is collected could then be put on a rocket and ferried to a base on the Moon or Earth.
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In other news, Nasa has upgraded its asteroid hazard software with some key changes that should help it better detect potentially dangerous space rocks.
Nasa has revealed stunning footage of a solar flare in action.
And, we looked into the weird world of ‘puffer jacket porn’ accounts.
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