How an Asteroid Worth $10 Quintillion Could Make Everyone on Earth a Billionaire — and Why It Might Not

 

In 1852, astronomers discovered a shimmering speck in the vastness of space — a metal-rich asteroid now believed to be worth over $10 quintillion. That’s $10,000,000,000,000,000,000. Could this ancient space rock make every person on Earth a billionaire? Maybe — but the story is far more complex than just numbers.

The Asteroid of Dreams: 16 Psyche

The asteroid in question is 16 Psyche, located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Measuring roughly 140 miles (226 kilometers) across, Psyche is not just another chunk of space rock. Unlike most asteroids made of rock or ice, Psyche is composed largely of metal — specifically iron and nickel, with traces of gold, platinum, and rare earth elements.

NASA estimates its value at over $10 quintillion, based on current metal market prices. If you divided that sum evenly among Earth's 8 billion people, each person would receive around $1.25 billion. Sounds like the recipe for a universal payday — but it’s not that simple.

A Discovery Ahead of Its Time

Psyche was discovered on March 17, 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis. At the time, no one could have guessed its future significance. Back then, telescopes could barely resolve distant asteroids, much less analyze their composition. It wasn’t until the late 20th and early 21st centuries — thanks to advancements in spectroscopy and radar — that researchers began to understand Psyche’s true makeup.

Modern observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories have confirmed the asteroid’s metallic nature, making it a tantalizing target for scientists and space miners alike.

Space Mining: A Billionaire’s Frontier

The idea of mining asteroids has moved from science fiction to serious business. Companies like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, backed by tech moguls like Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, have long envisioned extracting valuable materials from space.

Psyche is the crown jewel of that dream. The asteroid’s worth isn’t just about metal — it represents a potential leap in resource acquisition that could fuel space colonization and redefine global economics. In fact, NASA is set to launch the Psyche mission, a spacecraft that will travel 2.2 billion miles to study the asteroid up close. The mission launched in October 2023 and is expected to arrive in 2029.

But what if we could actually mine Psyche and bring its metal to Earth?

The Billionaire Paradox

On paper, flooding the global economy with $10 quintillion in metal might sound like a good idea — but here’s where economics comes into play. In reality, introducing such an overwhelming supply of metals would collapse market prices overnight.

Gold, platinum, and even iron would become incredibly common. Their scarcity — the very thing that makes them valuable — would vanish. Rather than making everyone rich, it would likely destabilize global markets and render entire industries obsolete.

This is known as the “resource curse” or the paradox of plenty: when an economy becomes too reliant on a single abundant resource, it can actually harm growth and wealth distribution.

In other words, turning everyone into a billionaire through asteroid mining might leave us with a lot of metal — but very little real wealth.

Technological and Logistical Challenges

Even if the economics somehow worked out, the logistics are daunting. Mining Psyche is far more complex than digging on Earth. It would require:

• Advanced robotics to operate in low gravity.

• Autonomous mining platforms capable of surviving in extreme space environments.

• Efficient propulsion systems to transport materials back to Earth.

These technologies are still in their infancy. Even the most optimistic timelines suggest it will be decades before large-scale asteroid mining becomes feasible.

There’s also the matter of ownership. Who gets to claim the riches of a space rock? International treaties like the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 declare that space is the "province of all mankind" — meaning no single nation can own celestial bodies. However, newer legislation like the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (2015) allows American companies to own resources they extract from space.

This legal ambiguity could spark intense geopolitical and corporate competition as space mining becomes more viable.

A Catalyst for Innovation

While mining 16 Psyche might not instantly turn Earth’s population into billionaires, it could still revolutionize our world. The pursuit of space mining will push forward technologies in robotics, artificial intelligence, propulsion, and resource recycling. These advancements could benefit sectors far beyond space, from clean energy to sustainable manufacturing.

Moreover, having access to abundant off-world materials could help humanity expand deeper into the solar system. Metal from asteroids could be used to build habitats, satellites, and spacecraft in space, eliminating the need to launch everything from Earth’s gravity well — a key step toward becoming a multi-planetary species.

Final Thoughts

The discovery of 16 Psyche 173 years ago may not have made headlines then, but today it stands as a symbol of humanity’s cosmic potential — and our economic limitations. While it may never make each of us a billionaire, it represents something even more valuable: a challenge to rethink how we use resources, explore space, and define wealth.

Perhaps the real treasure isn’t the metal it holds, but the future it could help build.