. 24/7 Space News .
IRON AND ICE
Asteroids are stronger, harder to destroy than previously thought
by Staff Writers
Baltimore MD (SPX) Mar 05, 2019

This is a frame-by-frame showing how gravity causes asteroid fragments to reaccumulate in the hours following impact.

A popular theme in the movies is that of an incoming asteroid that could extinguish life on the planet, and our heroes are launched into space to blow it up. But incoming asteroids may be harder to break than scientists previously thought, finds a Johns Hopkins study that used a new understanding of rock fracture and a new computer modeling method to simulate asteroid collisions.

The findings, to be published in the March 15 print issue of Icarus, can aid in the creation of asteroid impact and deflection strategies, increase understanding of solar system formation and help design asteroid mining efforts.

"We used to believe that the larger the object, the more easily it would break, because bigger objects are more likely to have flaws. Our findings, however, show that asteroids are stronger than we used to think and require more energy to be completely shattered," says Charles El Mir, a recent Ph.D graduate from the Johns Hopkins University's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the paper's first author.

Researchers understand physical materials like rocks at a laboratory scale (about the size of your fist), but it has been difficult to translate this understanding to city-size objects like asteroids. In the early 2000s, a different research team created a computer model into which they input various factors such as mass, temperature, and material brittleness, and simulated an asteroid about a kilometer in diameter striking head-on into a 25-kilometer diameter target asteroid at an impact velocity of five kilometers per second. Their results suggested that the target asteroid would be completely destroyed by the impact.

In the new study, El Mir and his colleagues, K.T. Ramesh, director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute and Derek Richardson, professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland, entered the same scenario into a new computer model called the Tonge-Ramesh model, which accounts for the more detailed, smaller-scale processes that occur during an asteroid collision. Previous models did not properly account for the limited speed of cracks in the asteroids.

"Our question was, how much energy does it take to actually destroy an asteroid and break it into pieces?" says El Mir.

The simulation was separated into two phases: a short-timescale fragmentation phase and a long-timescale gravitational reaccumulation phase. The first phase considered the processes that begin immediately after an asteroid is hit, processes that occur within fractions of a second. The second, long-timescale phase considers the effect of gravity on the pieces that fly off the asteroid's surface after the impact, with gravitational reaccumulation occurring over many hours after impact.

In the first phase, after the asteroid was hit, millions of cracks formed and rippled throughout the asteroid, parts of the asteroid flowed like sand, and a crater was created. This phase of the model examined the individual cracks and predicted overall patterns of how those cracks propagate. The new model showed that the entire asteroid is not broken by the impact, unlike what was previously thought. Instead, the impacted asteroid had a large damaged core that then exerted a strong gravitational pull on the fragments in the second phase of the simulation.

The research team found that the end result of the impact was not just a "rubble pile" - a collection of weak fragments loosely held together by gravity. Instead, the impacted asteroid retained significant strength because it had not cracked completely, indicating that more energy would be needed to destroy asteroids. Meanwhile, the damaged fragments were now redistributed over the large core, providing guidance to those who might want to mine asteroids during future space ventures.

"It may sound like science fiction but a great deal of research considers asteroid collisions. For example, if there's an asteroid coming at earth, are we better off breaking it into small pieces, or nudging it to go a different direction? And if the latter, how much force should we hit it with to move it away without causing it to break? These are actual questions under consideration," adds El Mir.

"We are impacted fairly often by small asteroids, such as in the Chelyabinsk event a few years ago," says Ramesh. "It is only a matter of time before these questions go from being academic to defining our response to a major threat. We need to have a good idea of what we should do when that time comes - and scientific efforts like this one are critical to help us make those decisions."

Research paper


Related Links
Johns Hopkins University
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


IRON AND ICE
Touchdown: Japan probe Hayabusa2 lands on distant asteroid
Tokyo (AFP) Feb 22, 2019
A Japanese probe sent to collect samples from an asteroid 300 million kilometres away for clues about the origin of life and the solar system landed successfully on Friday, scientists said. Hayabusa2 touched down briefly on the Ryugu asteroid, fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection and blasted back to its holding position, said officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). A live webcast of the control room showed dozens of JAXA staff members nervously mon ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

IRON AND ICE
Russia to Invest Over $450,000 in Development of Backpack Vacuum Cleaner for ISS

NASA, Roscosmos reach consensus on Dragon unmanned flight to ISS

First Emirati set to head to space in September: UAE

Company's 10th cargo supply mission featured expanded commercial capabilities for Cygnus spacecraft

IRON AND ICE
SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully docks on ISS

SpaceX astronaut capsule launched on ISS Demo-1 mission

Arianespace Reveals Launch Date of O3b Satellites Atop Russia's Soyuz Rocket

Countdown as SpaceX, NASA prepare to test new astronaut capsule

IRON AND ICE
InSight's "Mole" Starts Hammering into the Martian Soil

First evidence of planet-wide groundwater system on Mars

So Fit For Mars It's Like Being There

Clues to Martian Life Found in Chilean Desert

IRON AND ICE
China improves Long March-6 rocket for growing commercial launches

Seed of moon's first sprout: Chinese scientists' endeavor

China to send over 50 spacecraft into space via over 30 launches in 2019

China to deepen lunar exploration: space expert

IRON AND ICE
Arianespace launches first batch of OneWeb satellites

OneWeb Makes History as First Launch Mission Is a Success

Goonhilly Partners with the Australian Space Agency to Drive New Opportunities Worldwide

ISRO to Launch Nearly 30 Satellites in March on New PSLV Rocket

IRON AND ICE
Astronauts Assemble Tools to Test Space Tech

Navy completes tests on mine-hunting sonar system

Egypt to host Huawei's first MENA cloud platform: Cairo

A quantum magnet with a topological twist

IRON AND ICE
Exiled planet linked to stellar flyby 3 million years ago

NASA-funded research creates DNA-like molecule to aid search for alien life

New NASA mission could find more than 1,000 planets

Researchers discover a flipping crab feeding on methane seeps

IRON AND ICE
Astronomers Optimistic About Planet Nine's Existence

SwRI-led New Horizons research indicates small Kuiper Belt objects are surprisingly rare

New Horizons Spacecraft Returns Its Sharpest Views of Ultima Thule

Tiny Neptune Moon Spotted by Hubble May Have Broken from Larger Moon









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.