NASA is up to something very sneaky...

The news Just recently came out that NASA is preparing to send a probe out to take a close look at a metal asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

In what they call (reasonably enough) the Asteroid belt.

The probe was originally scheduled to launch in 2023, but NASA is bumping the launch date up to 2022--just 'cuz they really, really want to.

SO--crinkle down your tinfoil hats, my fellow unindicted co-conspirators, and tuck those Aluminum bibs into your collars--because I have something really tasty for you!

The name of the asteroid is 16 Psyche. It's diameter and mass are well know.

As a result, it's density is also well known.

16 Psyche is about 124 miles long, about 95% metal, and it's been calculated to weigh in at a porky 2.72±0.75×10^19 kg.

I think that's 272,000,000,000,000,000 metric tons. Or 272 quadrillion, if I haven't lost count of the zeros. (I only have thirteen toes.)

Now, for those of us that can only count to 30 because that's how many bullets will fit into an illegal high-capacity magazine in Commiefornia, let me simplify that a bit.

It comes out to a density of 4,500 g/cm³.

I confess, I didn't have a clue how much that was at first because none of my fingers and toes are metric.

But we all know (and love) GOLD!!!!

Which only weighs 19.32 g/cm³.

And there you have it: Whatever 16 Psyche is made out of, it's 232.919 times as dense as gold.

Considering that Osmium is the heaviest metal on Earth, and at a diminutive 22.59 g/cm3 is only a smidge denser than gold, that means that 16 Psyche is made out of pure Unobtainium.

Folks, there isn't supposed to be ANYTHING outside the core of a neutron star that's more than 213 times as dense as gold.

And if it that "Unobtanium" came out of the core of a neutron star, its release from the unimaginable pressure therein should have blown it into individual pieces of individual atoms.

So now you see why NASA is interested in 16 Psyche--VERY interested.

That material will have characteristics we can't even imagine right now. It may be the ultimate room temperature superconductor, or a source of energy that makes Uranium look positively pale, stale, frail & feeble.

And all they need to grab up is a teaspoon of it (48.89881 lbs.) to start finding out what it's good for.

And to start an asteroid "gold rush" that will make rushing for mere gold an utterly chump-change enterprise.

Of course, if we get there first, we can stake our claim and own the whole Asteroid.

Even if we have to fight a few wars to keep it.

But the Big Question is: Will the Space Aliens let us have it?

And it they won't, and we try to take it anyway, will they let us have it?

NASA Is Sending a Spacecraft to a Metal Asteroid | VIDEO

16 Psyche - Wikipedia

 

If it' density is 4,500 grams per cc then it' not metal.

 

If it is that dense, will the gravity prevent a sampling probe from leaving it to return to Earth?

 

From an old(and clumsy) mech, don't drop it on your toe if you're barefoot.

 

Just imagine the machine tools it would take just to get a sample!

 

Wow!
That's even more dense than a snowflake's gray matter.
Is that possible?

 

Thanks for bringing the math home to an understandable level. I never took the time to do that, I had no idea it was that dense. Next the aliens will be revealed hehe

 

meh, humans have always been curious. If it's out there. We want to know more about it.
As for launching early? Maybe they know budget cuts are coming that would make the exploration impossible.

I'm still sad about us losing a planet back in 2006

 

Oh 4500kg per cubic meter.
It's pretty freaking dense. With 40% porosity.
It may be very high in platinum group metals.
That's around 3x the density of solid concrete.

 

so its hard?? and heavy

 

Ahh just my ex's head if it's that dense.

 

Ubaru, maybe?

 

Maybe we can stabilize the Earths wobble if we figure out and place this material in the correct places to balance it like a tire?

 

NASA which NASA ?
Not A Space Agency
National Academy of Space Actors
New Age Satanic Agenda
Need Another Seven Astronauts
Never Ask Scientists Anything
No Actual Science Allowed
Numerous Amazing Silly Answers
Not Again Stop Already
No Actual Space Advancements
Not A Shred of Accountability

 

Well, 4,500 kg/cm and 4,500g/ccm, are the same density: it's just weighing metric "pints" vs. metric "gallons" of the same stuff.

Gold is heavy. Anything 213 times heavier (for the same bulk) is just insanely heavy.

Platinum, is only 21.45 g/cm³, compared to gold's 19.32 g/cm³.

Oil pan is probably right: anything that dense is not any normal metal. It's a mega-metal, or para-metal, or hyper-metallic alloy, or something that's not even remotely related to our concept of what a metal is.

Whatever it is, it's a real freakazoid material. You can be sure of that.

And I'd love to have some to play with.

I really liked the way the Wiki article casually mentioned that 16 Psyche was so massive that it was messing with the orbits of nearby asteroids. But it was made out of "nickel iron"--which is only a little over half as dense as gold.

Nopers. Busted! If it was made of nickel-iron, it would have the same sissy kind of gravity as all the other asteroids.

And nickel iron, BTW, is common in meteorites. There's no need to run off into Outer Space to study it.

I think it may be made of high-grade grabatonium.

@seawolf: It might, except that the NASA geeks will know how much gravity it has, so they'll send something out with beefy enough engines to handle it.

 

NASA spelled backwards is NASA.
One of their rocket scientists told me that.


@Ganado: I can't actually say that I've seen a real, live, intergalactic Space Alien up close & personal, but I'm pretty sure they've seen me.

 

Read my sig line. Flush........

 

I'd like to make a few bullets out of the stuff. You know, in the interest of science n stuff..