The stakes are high, $10,000 Quadrillion.
If done right by the right people & the right companies, humanity could see its first Quadrillionaire within the foreseeable future. How is that? Two words: Space Mining. As we look further into the logistics of mining campaigns in space & the potential rewards, it’s becoming more clear that the next avenue of growth for humanity will be among the stars.
How will we reach the stars?
The current understanding is that it is very difficult to launch a large amount of mass into space, & for good reason. More mass means larger rockets which means more fuel which means more mass…you get the picture. But by leveraging our natural satellite (The Moon) we could be a space faring species much faster than you think.
How can we use the moon for space mining?
Think: Gas station, but for spaceships, the moon has a large amount of water particles hidden within its dusty crust, NASA has funded 4 projects which aim to use solar power to harness water from the moon, this is great news. Because besides the fact that water is needed for the enablement of life, water can also be deconstructed into Hydrogen & Oxygen, both of which forge the key components for rocket fuel.
With our space fuel station on the moon, we’d be on our way to establishing a colony on Mars & mining nearby asteroids. Asteroids are very rich in heavy minerals, any amount we have on Earth pales in comparison to what we can find on asteroids. In 2019, NASA launched a probe mission to 16 Psyche, a 140-mile wide, potato shaped asteroid. 16 Psyche is rumoured to be the metal core of a dead planet. Since we can’t take a look inside our own planet’s metallic core, 16 Psyche could give insight into the violent birth of terrestrial planets.
Besides that point, the asteroid is said to be loaded with heavy minerals, so much so that it could be worth up to $10 octillion. Now, how much is $10 octillion? Oh, about $10,000 quadrillion. Remember, quadrillion is right after trillion. That is a number that we really can’t quite comprehend. How so? The global GDP estimate of 2020 puts the entirety of the world economy at about $90 trillion. Meaning that if we brought even a fraction of 16 Psyche back, it would break the world economy.
