TEMPERATURE HISTORY AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF (101955) 1999 RQ 36: A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SAMPLE RETURN FROM A PRIMITIVE ASTEROID

Delbo, Marco; Michel, Patrick

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/728/2/L42

Title: TEMPERATURE HISTORY AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF (101955) 1999 RQ 36: A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SAMPLE RETURN FROM A PRIMITIVE ASTEROID

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Abstract

It has been recently shown that near-Earth objects (NEOs) have a temperature history-due to the radiative heating by the Sun-non-trivially correlated to their present orbits. This is because the perihelion distance of NEOs varies as a consequence of dynamical mechanisms, such as resonances and close encounters with planets. Thus, it is worth investigating the temperature history of NEOs that are potential targets of space missions devoted to return samples of prebiotic organic compounds. Some of these compounds, expected to be found on NEOs of primitive composition, break up at moderate temperatures, e.g., 300-670 K. Using a model of the orbital evolution of NEOs and thermal models, we studied the temperature history of (101955) 1999 RQ{sub 36} (the primary target of the mission OSIRIS-REx, proposed in the program New Frontiers of NASA). Assuming that the same material always lies on the surface (i.e., there is no regolith turnover), our results suggest that the temperatures reached during its past evolution affected the stability of some organic compounds at the surface (e.g., there is 50% probability that the surface of 1999 RQ{sub 36} was heated at temperatures {>=}500 K). However, the temperature drops rapidly with depth: the regolith at a depth of 3-5more »« less

Authors:

Delbo, Marco ^[1]; Michel, Patrick ^[2]

Member of the science team of the OSIRIS-REx NASA mission. (United States)
Univeriste Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, BP 4229, 06304, Nice, cedex 4 (France)

Publication Date:: Sun Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2011

OSTI Identifier:: 21560473

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: Astrophysical Journal Letters

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 728; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/728/2/L42; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASTEROIDS; EVOLUTION; ORGANIC COMPOUNDS; PLANETS; RADIATION HEATING; SPACE VEHICLES; SURFACES; HEATING; VEHICLES

Citation Formats


                    Delbo, Marco, and Michel, Patrick. TEMPERATURE HISTORY AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF (101955) 1999 RQ 36: A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SAMPLE RETURN FROM A PRIMITIVE ASTEROID.  United States: N. p., 2011. 
        Web.  doi:10.1088/2041-8205/728/2/L42.

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                    Delbo, Marco, & Michel, Patrick. TEMPERATURE HISTORY AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF (101955) 1999 RQ 36: A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SAMPLE RETURN FROM A PRIMITIVE ASTEROID.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/728/2/L42

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                    Delbo, Marco, and Michel, Patrick. 2011.  
        "TEMPERATURE HISTORY AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF (101955) 1999 RQ 36: A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SAMPLE RETURN FROM A PRIMITIVE ASTEROID".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/728/2/L42.

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@article{osti_21560473,

  title        = {TEMPERATURE HISTORY AND DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF (101955) 1999 RQ 36: A POTENTIAL TARGET FOR SAMPLE RETURN FROM A PRIMITIVE ASTEROID},

  author       = {Delbo, Marco and Michel, Patrick},

  abstractNote = {It has been recently shown that near-Earth objects (NEOs) have a temperature history-due to the radiative heating by the Sun-non-trivially correlated to their present orbits. This is because the perihelion distance of NEOs varies as a consequence of dynamical mechanisms, such as resonances and close encounters with planets. Thus, it is worth investigating the temperature history of NEOs that are potential targets of space missions devoted to return samples of prebiotic organic compounds. Some of these compounds, expected to be found on NEOs of primitive composition, break up at moderate temperatures, e.g., 300-670 K. Using a model of the orbital evolution of NEOs and thermal models, we studied the temperature history of (101955) 1999 RQ{sub 36} (the primary target of the mission OSIRIS-REx, proposed in the program New Frontiers of NASA). Assuming that the same material always lies on the surface (i.e., there is no regolith turnover), our results suggest that the temperatures reached during its past evolution affected the stability of some organic compounds at the surface (e.g., there is 50% probability that the surface of 1999 RQ{sub 36} was heated at temperatures {>=}500 K). However, the temperature drops rapidly with depth: the regolith at a depth of 3-5 cm, which is not considered difficult to reach with the current designs of sampling devices, has experienced temperatures about 100 K below those at the surface. This is sufficient to protect some subsurface organics from thermal breakup.},

  doi          = {10.1088/2041-8205/728/2/L42},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21560473},
  journal      = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},

  issn         = {2041-8205},

  number       = 2,

  volume       = 728,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Sun Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2011},

  month        = {Sun Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2011}

}

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