A massive asteroid believed to have been worth around $10,000 quadrillion may not be what we once thought, with a new scientific study upending some previous understandings about its composition.
The asteroid, 16 Psyche, has long been believed to be an M-Type asteroid, the largest of its kind. It resides in the asteroid belt between the planets Mars and Jupiter. Its size cannot be understated, with a diameter of approximately 227 kilometers. For reference, that would make it longer than the maximum length of the entire island of Cyprus.
In fact, 16 Psyche is so massive that it has observable gravitational perturbations on other asteroids in the belt.
And it was this that really sheds light on what makes this asteroid so special, as through these gravitational perturbations, one could calculate mass and density, and from there, estimate its composition.
As an M-Type, 16 Psyche was thought to be the fragment of a core of a proto-planet, which would have broken up during the formation of the solar system. These cores are rich in metals.
But this asteroid isn't just rich in metals. In fact, this would be a drastic understatement. According to studies published in the academic periodical the Planetary Science Journal (PSJ), 16 Psyche is so full of what is likely iron and nickel that the asteroid itself is likely worth around $10,000 quadrillion.
For context, that is worth more than the entire global economy.
This composition was deduced after the researchers used ultraviolet light to observe Psyche.
"We looked at the way that the ultraviolet light reflected off of the asteroid surface," lead author Tracy Becker, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, told CNN at the time.
"The way the ultraviolet light was reflected from Psyche was very, very similar to the way iron reflects sunlight."
But newer studies have shed even further light on this mysterious asteroid, and have raised questions regarding its true nature.
A PSJ study conducted by scientists from Caltech managed to conduct the first-ever temperature map of its surface. The researchers found that 16 Psyche has an unusually dense or conductive surface, but the amount of heat it gave off was 60% less than what they had expected. As a result, they concluded that it was no less than 30% metal. In other words, the core may be metallic, but the surface seems to be very rocky with metal fragments mixed in.
"We've known for many years that objects in this class are not, in fact, solid metal, but what they are and how they formed is still an enigma," lead author Catherine de Kleer said in a Caltech press release.
As such, it raises many questions regarding what exactly 16 Psyche is truly made of, and if it is truly a proto-planet's core. The reason is that the composition seems to be porous, as in a larger object broke apart and then the fragments reaccumulated, a process that would result in a mash of rocky and metallic chunks. Smaller asteroids like this exist, but, as noted by astronomer Phil Plait, 16 Psyche is 100 times larger than them, and it isn't clear if such a large porous asteroid is even possible.
So what else could it be? According to the new study, the asteroid seems to be ferrovolcanic."Ferrovolcanoes are eruptions of molten iron," Plait wrote in his blog regarding 16 Psyche. "[The paper's authors'] idea is that the core stayed molten while the surface cooled into a rocky crust, but the molten metal would have erupted out where the crust was thinner."This does make sense in theory. Releasing molten metal onto the surface would be the reason why it seems the rocky surface has metal fragments mixed in.
However, due to the difficulty in studying 16 Psyche from Earth – the study itself only succeeded through the use of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile – it may not be easy to get answers.
But NASA may just have a way.
The US space agency's long-awaited mission to the asteroid – of which its website proclaims: "For the first time ever, we are exploring a world made not of rock or ice, but of metal" – is set to launch a spacecraft in July 2022, set to arrive in 2026. The goal of this mission is to discover just what this asteroid is truly made of. And if it truly is a proto-planet's core, it could help shed light onto the nature of Earth's own planetary core.
In addition, many also wonder at the economic value of an asteroid composed of $10,000 quadrillion worth of iron and nickel. But as explained in 2020 by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the NASA mission's principal investigator and the one who came up with the $10,000 quadrillion value, bringing the asteroid to Earth is out of the question.
"We cannot bring Psyche back to Earth. We have absolutely no technology to do that," she told CNN at the time, adding that even if it were possible to bring it back, it would literally destroy the Earth and figuratively destroy the market. However, it could be the next step towards eventually launching mining missions on asteroids and other near-Earth objects.