On the rotation rates and axis ratios of the smallest known near-Earth asteroids---the archetypes of the Asteroid Redirect Mission targets

TL;DR

This study characterizes the rotation rates, shapes, and spectral types of the smallest known near-Earth asteroids to inform the selection of targets for NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission, highlighting their physical properties and diversity.

Contribution

It provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of small NEA properties relevant to ARM, including rotation periods, axis ratios, and spectral types, based on current observational data.

Findings

Typical rotation period is 40 minutes.

Mean axis ratio is 1.43, median 1.29.

Fast rotation rates below 30 seconds suggest monolithic bodies.

Abstract

<abridged> NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) has been proposed with the aim to capture a small asteroid a few meters in size and redirect it into an orbit around the Moon. There it can be investigated at leisure by astronauts aboard an Orion or other spacecraft. The target for the mission has not yet been selected, and there are very few potential targets currently known. Though sufficiently small near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are thought to be numerous, they are also difficult to detect and characterize with current observational facilities. Here we collect the most up-to-date information on the smallest known near-Earth asteroids to outline the properties of these small NEAs as currently understood, in order to examine what the eventual ARM target might be like. Observational biases certainly mean that our sample is not an ideal representation of the true population of small NEAs. However our sample is representative of the eventual target list for the ARM mission, which will be compiled under very similar observational constraints unless dramatic changes are made to the way near-Earth asteroids are searched for and studied. We find that the typical rotation period is 40 minutes. The mean and median axis ratios were 1.43 and 1.29. Rotation rates much faster than the spin barrier are seen, reaching below 30 seconds, and implying that most of these bodies are monoliths. Non-principal axis rotation is uncommon. Axial ratios often reach values as high as two, though no undisputed results reach above three. We find little correlation of axis ratio with size. The most common spectral type in the sample of small NEAs is S-type (> 90%), with only a handful of C and X types known.