NASA to Visit Asteroid Made of Gold Worth $700 Quintillion

NASA is planning on visiting 16 Psyche, an asteroid made of gold and other precious metals. It's estimated worth is $700 quintillion. That's enough to give everyone on the planet $93 billion! Sort of.

Even if NASA were to go to the asteroid, bring back all the gold, and divvy it up between everyone on Earth, it wouldn't mean a whole lot in regards to your wealth. Here's why:

1. We would still have class systems. Giving everyone the same amount of money just means the cost of everything would skyrocket. It wouldn't change your class status if everyone else changes too.
2. Gold is only valuable because it's rare and there's a demand for it. If the supply suddenly outweighs the demand, the value will plummet.
3. Wealth doesn't come from large hunks of metal. It comes from what you can do with it. In fact, our whole economic system no longer has anything to do with gold.

While it might sound pretty amazing, an asteroid made of gold doesn't do a whole lot to make everyone on the planet rich.