Low-Energy Impacts onto Lunar Regolith

Details Low-Energy Impacts onto Lunar Regolith Low-Energy Impacts onto Lunar Regolith

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p11a1594s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P11A-1594

Physics

[5420] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Impact Phenomena, Cratering, [5455] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Origin And Evolution, [5465] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Rings And Dust

Scientific paper

Collisions in space are vital to the formation and evolution of planetary bodies such as protoplanetary disks, planetary rings, the Kuiper belt, and the asteroid belt. Low-velocity impacts are common in planetary rings and protoplanetary disks. Saturn ring particles collide at speeds less than 1 m/s throughout most of the main rings, with more energetic collisions occurring in the dynamically stirred F ring. We are conducting a program of laboratory experiments to study low-velocity impacts of 1 to 5 m/s into regolith. We use direct measurement of ejecta mass and high resolution video tracking of ejecta particle trajectories to derive ejecta mass velocity distributions. We wish to characterize and understand the collision parameters that control the outcome of low-velocity impacts into regolith, including impact velocity, impactor mass, target size distribution, regolith depth, and target relative density, and to experimentally determine the functional dependencies of the outcomes of low-velocity collisions (ejecta mass and ejecta velocities) on the controlling parameters of the collision. Our goal is to understand the physics of ejecta production and regolith compaction in low-energy impacts and experimentally validate predictive models for dust flow and deposition. We present results from our ongoing study showing the positive correlation between impact energy and ejecta mass. Our results show that the production of ejecta mass increases as a function of impact kinetic energy. The production of mass also increases as a function of target relative density to a point of maximum ejecta production, beyond which the trend reverses.

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