NASA explains how asteroid it's capturing is worth $10,000,000,000,000,000,000

NASA has detailed what it believes asteroid 17 Psyche to be made up of and why it's subsequently worth a staggering $100,000 quadrillion.

NASA successfully launched a spacecraft from its Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 13, 2023 set to make a 2.5 billion-mile journey and make contact with a faraway asteroid named 16 Psyche.

The asteroid was actually discovered 172 years ago by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis.

It's name features the number '16' as it was the 16th asteroid to be discovered and the name 'Psyche' after the goddess of the soul in ancient Greek mythology.

However, what they didn't know back then - which NASA knows now - is the immense value of 16 Psyche, anticipated as being worth around an eye-watering $10,000,000,000,000,000,000.

But why is it anticipated as being worth quite so much money?

The asteroid is named 16 Psyche (NASA)

Well, NASA's website explains the asteroid has 'an irregular, potato-like shape' and if you sliced it 'in half horizontally at the equater' it would measure a staggering '173 miles (280 kilometers) across at its widest point and 144 miles (232 kilometers) long'.

"Its surface area is 64,000 square miles (165,800 square kilometers)," it adds.

We get it, it's huge and this is all very good, but it's what it's made of which is the really important bit here."

NASA reveals: "Up until recently, the scientific consensus was that the asteroid Psyche consisted mostly of metal.

"The more recent data indicates that the asteroid is possibly a mix of metal and silicate, the same material found in glass and sand.

The Psyche spacecraft was launched in October, 2023 (CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

"The best analysis indicates that Psyche is likely made of a mixture of rock and metal, with metal composing 30 percent to 60 percent of its volume.

"The asteroid’s composition has been determined by radar observations and by the measurements of the asteroid’s thermal inertia (how quickly an object gains or re-radiates heat)."

Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wendy Caldwell predicted to Space.com that the asteroid is made up of mainly nickel and copper.

However, while NASA has created a 3D model of the asteroid, no one can be 100 percent certain what it's made from until they're close up.

Either way, any metal in such a large quantity has been predicted as being worth in the hundreds of thousands of quadrillions.

NASA's vessel is expected to reach 16 Psyche and gather its scientific data from the asteroid from August 2029 to November 2031 - so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.