Dynamical simulations of the coupled rotational and orbital dynamics of binary near-Earth asteroid 66391 (1999 KW4) suggest that it is excited as a result of perturbations from the Sun during perihelion passages. Excitation of the mutual orbit will stimulate complex fluctuations in the orbit and rotation of both components, inducing the attitude of the smaller component to have large variation within some orbits and to hardly vary within others. The primary's proximity to its rotational stability limit suggests an origin from spin-up and disruption of a loosely bound precursor within the past million years.
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Images collected during NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission provide the first resolved views of the Didymos binary asteroid system. These images reveal that the primary asteroid, Didymos, is flattened and has plausible undulations along its equatorial perimeter. At high elevations, its surface is rough and contains large boulders and craters; at low elevations its surface is smooth and possesses fewer large boulders and craters.
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- Planetary defense research is heavily dependent on understanding the mechanical properties of asteroids, which are challenging to assess from Earth.
- A study of boulders on the asteroid Dimorphos, using data from the DART mission, revealed an estimated internal friction angle of 32.7 ± 2. 5°, indicating they likely formed from impact processing.
- The similarities between Dimorphos boulders and those on other rubble-pile asteroids (Itokawa, Ryugu, and Bennu) suggest a shared formation process and enhance our understanding of asteroid characteristics and the implications for planetary defense strategies.
Recent collisional history of (65803) Didymos.
Nat Commun
May 2024
DLR Institute of Planetary Research, Rutherfordstrasse 2, Berlin, 12489, Germany.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART, NASA) spacecraft revealed that the primary of the (65803) Didymos near-Earth asteroid (NEA) binary system is not exactly the expected spinning top shape observed for other km-size asteroids. Ground based radar observations predicted that such shape was compatible with the uncertainty along the direction of the asteroid spin axis. Indeed, Didymos shows crater and landslide features, and evidence for boulder motion at low equatorial latitudes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSuccessful kinetic impact into an asteroid for planetary defence.
Nature
April 2023
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Although no known asteroid poses a threat to Earth for at least the next century, the catalogue of near-Earth asteroids is incomplete for objects whose impacts would produce regional devastation. Several approaches have been proposed to potentially prevent an asteroid impact with Earth by deflecting or disrupting an asteroid. A test of kinetic impact technology was identified as the highest-priority space mission related to asteroid mitigation.
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