High-Speed Boulders and the Debris Field in DART Ejecta

TL;DR

This study analyzes the ejecta from the DART impact on Dimorphos, revealing large boulders ejected at high speeds, which could significantly influence the asteroid's orbit and rotation, with implications for future asteroid deflection strategies.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed analysis of the ejecta, especially large boulders, and their momentum contribution, offering new insights into impact effects and asteroid response.

Findings

Large boulders up to 3.6 m were ejected at speeds up to 52 m/s.

Ejected boulders contain over three times the momentum of the DART spacecraft.

Ejecta may alter Dimorphos's orbital plane and rotation state.

Abstract

On 26 September 2022 the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft collided with Dimorphos, the moon of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, in a full-scale demonstration of a kinetic impactor concept. The companion LICIACube spacecraft documented the aftermath, capturing images of the expansion and evolution of the ejecta from 29 to 243 s after the impact. We present results from our analyses of these observations, including an improved reduction of the data and new absolute calibration, an updated LICIACube trajectory, and a detailed description of the events and phenomena that were recorded throughout the flyby. One notable aspect of the ejecta was the existence of clusters of boulders, up to 3.6 m in radius, that were ejected at speeds up to 52 m/s. Our analysis of the spatial distribution of 104 of these boulders suggests that they are likely the remnants of larger boulders shattered by the DART spacecraft in the first stages of the impact. The amount of momentum contained in these boulders is more than 3 times that of the DART spacecraft, and it is directed primarily to the south, almost perpendicular to the DART trajectory. Recoil of Dimorphos from the ejection of these boulders has the potential to change its orbital plane by up to a degree and to impart a non-principal axis component to its rotation state. Damping timescales for these phenomena are such that the Hera spacecraft, arriving at the system in 2026, should be able to measure these effects.