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Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape

In-situ exploration and remote thermal infrared observation revealed that a large fraction of Solar System small bodies should be covered with granular regolith. The complex and varied geology of the regolith layer may preserve the historical records of the surface modification and topographic evolu...

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Autores principales: Cheng, Bin, Yu, Yang, Baoyin, Hexi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577283/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28855743
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10681-8
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author Cheng, Bin
Yu, Yang
Baoyin, Hexi
author_facet Cheng, Bin
Yu, Yang
Baoyin, Hexi
author_sort Cheng, Bin
collection PubMed
description In-situ exploration and remote thermal infrared observation revealed that a large fraction of Solar System small bodies should be covered with granular regolith. The complex and varied geology of the regolith layer may preserve the historical records of the surface modification and topographic evolution experienced by asteroids, especially cratering processes, in which the projectile shape plays a crucial role. Regarding the impact sampling scheme, the projectile-shape dependence of both the cavity morphology and the collected mass remains to be explored. This paper studies the process of the low-speed impact sampling on granular regolith using projectiles of different shapes. The results demonstrate that the projectile shape significantly influences the excavation stage, forming cavities with different morphologies, i.e., cone-shaped, bowl-shaped and U-shaped. We further indicate that the different velocity distributions of the ejecta curtains due to the various projectile shapes result in various amounts of collected mass in sampler canister, regarding which the 60° conical projectile exhibits preferable performance for impact sampling scheme. The results presented in this article are expected to reveal the dependence of the excavation process on projectile shape under micro gravity and provide further information on the optimal designs of impact sampling devices for future sample-return space missions.
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spelling pubmed-55772832017-09-06 Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape Cheng, Bin Yu, Yang Baoyin, Hexi Sci Rep Article In-situ exploration and remote thermal infrared observation revealed that a large fraction of Solar System small bodies should be covered with granular regolith. The complex and varied geology of the regolith layer may preserve the historical records of the surface modification and topographic evolution experienced by asteroids, especially cratering processes, in which the projectile shape plays a crucial role. Regarding the impact sampling scheme, the projectile-shape dependence of both the cavity morphology and the collected mass remains to be explored. This paper studies the process of the low-speed impact sampling on granular regolith using projectiles of different shapes. The results demonstrate that the projectile shape significantly influences the excavation stage, forming cavities with different morphologies, i.e., cone-shaped, bowl-shaped and U-shaped. We further indicate that the different velocity distributions of the ejecta curtains due to the various projectile shapes result in various amounts of collected mass in sampler canister, regarding which the 60° conical projectile exhibits preferable performance for impact sampling scheme. The results presented in this article are expected to reveal the dependence of the excavation process on projectile shape under micro gravity and provide further information on the optimal designs of impact sampling devices for future sample-return space missions. Nature Publishing Group UK 2017-08-30 /pmc/articles/PMC5577283/ /pubmed/28855743 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10681-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Cheng, Bin
Yu, Yang
Baoyin, Hexi
Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
title Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
title_full Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
title_fullStr Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
title_full_unstemmed Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
title_short Asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
title_sort asteroid surface impact sampling: dependence of the cavity morphology and collected mass on projectile shape
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577283/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28855743
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-10681-8
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