Ejecta Cloud from a Kinetic Impact on the Secondary of a Binary Asteroid: I. Mechanical Environment and Dynamic Model

TL;DR

This paper models the post-impact ejecta cloud from a binary asteroid to predict debris evolution, aiding asteroid deflection missions and understanding planetary formation.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive dynamic model for ejecta from a binary asteroid impact, integrating forces, crater scaling, and size distribution based on observations.

Findings

Ejecta disperses quickly after impact.

Dust-sized ejecta is efficiently cleared by solar radiation.

Large debris tends to survive longer in polar orbits.

Abstract

An understanding of the post-impact dynamics of ejecta clouds are crucial to the planning of a kinetic impact mission to an asteroid, and also has great implications for the history of planetary formation. The purpose of this article to track the evolution of ejecta produced by AIDA mission, which targets for kinetic impact the secondary of near-Earth binary asteroid 65803 Didymos on 2022, and to feedback essential informations to AIDA's ongoing phase-A study. We present a detailed dynamic model for the simulation of an ejecta cloud from a binary asteroid that synthesizes all relevant forces based on a previous analysis of the mechanical environment. We apply our method to gain insight into the expected response of Didymos to the AIDA impact, including the subsequent evolution of debris and dust. The crater scaling relations from laboratory experiments are employed to approximate the distributions of ejecta mass and launching speed. The size composition of fragments is modeled with a power law fitted from observations of real asteroid surface. A full-scale demonstration is simulated using parameters specified by the mission. We report the results of the simulation, which include the computed spread of the ejecta cloud and the recorded history of ejecta accretion and escape. The violent period of the ejecta evolution is found to be short, and is followed by a stage where the remaining ejecta is gradually cleared. Solar radiation pressure proves to be efficient in cleaning dust-size ejecta, and the simulation results after two weeks shows that large debris on polar orbits (perpendicular to the binary orbital plane) has a survival advantage over smaller ejecta and ejecta that keep to low latitudes.