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Psyche asteroid: unfathomable
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Psyche asteroid: unfathomable

First discovered in 1852 and named after a Greek goddess, an asteroid known as Psyche has the power to turn every single person on the planet into a billionaire. This "irregular, potato-shaped asteroid" might not sound like much, but it contains rare elements, metals and minerals that could be worth an unimaginable $10 quintillion if they were brought back and used on Earth. 

Calculating its value per gram is impossible, but we do know that NASA launched a rocket to travel to Psyche – which has a surface area of 64,000 square miles (165,800sq km) and is sometimes referred to as 16 Psyche, because it was the 16th asteroid ever discovered – in October 2023. It's scheduled to reach Psyche by 2029.

Read more: What are critical minerals and who's winning the race to control them?

Alice Cattley

16 January 2025

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