Seismic Modification of Asteroid Surfaces: Laboratory Simulations of Normal Impulses

Details Seismic Modification of Asteroid Surfaces: Laboratory Simulations of Normal Impulses Seismic Modification of Asteroid Surfaces: Laboratory Simulations of Normal Impulses

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p51a1174i&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P51A-1174

Other

6022 Impact Phenomena (5420, 8136), 6055 Surfaces, 6205 Asteroids

Scientific paper

We are continuing experiments exploring the effects of impact-derived seismic shaking on the morphology and stratigraphy of asteroids. While large impacts may globally modify or reset the surface of an asteroid, small impacts can have local to regional effects, such as the destruction or modification of small craters in regolith. Studies of seismic shaking of simulated asteroid regoliths in the terrestrial gravitational field are providing useful analogs and insights for crater degradation and erasure processes, the development of "ponds" (Eros), and the evolution of the regolith on Itokawa. The vibration tables at the JHU/APL spacecraft testing facility can be configured to induce either horizontal or vertical accelerations of up to a few gravities over amplitudes of a few centimeters. The Asteroid Surface Process Simulator, a 1-meter square, 40 cm deep Plexiglas sandbox, boltable to the table, is designed to handle the accelerations of simulated seismic events. Experiments using playground sand as a regolith simulant, with cobbles and other larger components to simulate large boulders and topographic elements, provide results for the response of slopes, flat surfaces, and landforms to single jerks and sustained shaking in different vertical directions. Some notable empirical results include slow downslope motion of large pebbles relative to smaller and lighter materials; formation of landslides in craters, when subjected to single jerks; significant softening of crater rims and other slope breaks after only a few small jerks; and complete erasure of a crater upon one large jerk. This work is supported by NASA DDAP grant NNG05GC08G.

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