Modeling Momentum Transfer from Kinetic Impacts: Implications for Redirecting Asteroids

Journal Article · Tue May 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Procedia Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2015.04.075· OSTI ID:1214678

Stickle, A. M. ^[1]; Atchison, J. A. ^[1]; Barnouin, O. S. ^[1]; Cheng, A. F. ^[1]; Crawford, D. A. ^[2]; Ernst, C. M. ^[1]; Fletcher, Z. ^[1]; Rivkin, A. S. ^[1]

---

1. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Kinetic impactors are one way to deflect a potentially hazardous object headed for Earth. The Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission is designed to test the effectiveness of this approach and is a joint effort between NASA and ESA. The NASA-led portion is the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) and is composed of a ~300-kg spacecraft designed to impact the moon of the binary system 65803 Didymos. The deflection of the moon will be measured by the ESA-led Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) (which will characterize the moon) and from ground-based observations. Because the material properties and internal structure of the target are poorly constrained, however, analytical models and numerical simulations must be used to understand the range of potential outcomes. Here, we describe a modeling effort combining analytical models and CTH simulations to determine possible outcomes of the DART impact. We examine a wide parameter space and provide predictions for crater size, ejecta mass, and momentum transfer following the impact into the moon of the Didymos system. For impacts into “realistic” asteroid types, these models produce craters with diameters on the order of 10 m, an imparted Δv of 0.5–2 mm/s and a momentum enhancement of 1.07 to 5 for a highly porous aggregate to a fully dense rock.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1214678
• Journal Information: Procedia Engineering, Vol. 103, Issue C; ISSN 1877-7058
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
Kinetic Impactors
CTH models
Didymos
AIDA mission concept