'Nodaji' Mineral Asteroid Discovered... Worth '113 Hae-won' in Korean Won

NASA to Launch '16 Psyche' Exploration Spacecraft

Virtual image of the mineral asteroid '16 Psyche'. Photo by NASA website capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Nahana] A 'mother lode' mineral asteroid worth 70,000 times the global gross domestic product (GDP) has been discovered.

On the 30th (local time), USA Today and other foreign media reported that the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), a private American space exploration research organization, published the observational research results on this matter in the Planetary Science Journal.

SWRI announced that the asteroid '16 Psyche,' located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is composed not of ice or rock but of minerals of immense value.

It is estimated that the economic value of the minerals held by '16 Psyche' asteroid amounts to 10,000 quadrillion (10^19; 1 quadrillion is 10^15) dollars. This is 70,000 times the global GDP of 142 trillion dollars as of 2019, announced by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Senior researcher Tracy Becker said, "Metal meteorites are sometimes found on Earth, but '16 Psyche' is unique in that it is an asteroid made entirely of iron and nickel."

SWRI analyzed the ultraviolet wavelengths of '16 Psyche' using the Hubble Space Telescope and discovered oxidation caused by solar wind, concluding based on this that the asteroid is a mass of minerals.

Researcher Becker speculated, "Earth is composed of a metal core, mantle, and crust, but '16 Psyche' may have lost its mantle and crust after colliding with other objects in the solar system during the early planetary formation stage, leaving only the metal core."

'16 Psyche' is a massive asteroid with a diameter of 140 miles (225 km), roughly the size of the U.S. state of Massachusetts.

Converting the value of this asteroid into Korean numerical units, it is 1,000 gyeong (京; 1 gyeong is 10^16) dollars, and when converted to Korean won, it amounts to 113 hae (垓; 1 hae is 10^20) won, which is 10^22 won.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch a spacecraft to explore '16 Psyche' in 2022 to study the origin of planets.

However, Carol Polansky, the scientist for the '16 Psyche' exploration project, stated that only scientific research of the asteroid will be conducted. He said, "NASA can send a spacecraft to the asteroid to study planetary formation processes, but it will not bring back minerals for commercial use."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.