Collaborative Research: Tidal disruption of near-Earth asteroids

合作研究：近地小行星的潮汐破坏

• 批准号: 2108440
• 负责人: Kevin Walsh
• 金额: $ 29.55万
• 依托单位: Southwest Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2108440&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Tidal; disruption; near

This collaborative project between Southwest Research Institute and the University of Maryland College Park studies how gravitational forces can reshape or tear apart near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). “Rubble-pile” asteroids (which are loose collections of material) and comets are known to reshape or come apart, through a process known as tidal distortion and disruption, as they pass close to planets. This research team will use computer simulations with inputs from observations to examine how tidal disruption changes the population of NEAs. They will address topics such as how many fragments are created, what their orbits are, and how many odd shapes can be attributed to the process. This will provide important insight into their history and potential futures and has relevance to planetary defense. The broader impacts leverage the interest of the general public in NEAs to continue a long-running public outreach program and to build an accessible toolset and lesson plan for wide use.Near-Earth asteroids are some of the closest and therefore best-studied objects in the Solar System, yet it is not known how pervasive the effects of tidal disruption could be among NEAs. This research team will model the interaction of rubble-pile asteroids having close flybys of terrestrial planets. They will determine whether their soft-sphere discrete code can produce some of the irregularly shaped NEAs, re-process their surfaces, and alter the size and orbital distribution of near-Earth asteroids. Through accurate modeling of the surface interactions between particles, this group will capture the effect of frictional forces and irregular shaped constituent pieces for a complete suite of tidal disruption models. Testing over the entire range of possible encounter scenarios (close approach and velocity) for the terrestrial planets, including a range of spin states (spin axis orientation and spin rates) and internal structure (large interior blocks), will be used to create a catalog of outcomes necessary to estimate how widely this process has altered the near-Earth population and be able to estimate the bodies most likely to have been affected.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

西南研究所与马里兰州大学公园大学之间的合作项目如何重新塑造或撕裂接近地球的小行星（NEAS）。 “瓦砾 - 毛皮”的小行星（材料的松散集合）并分开，可以重塑或通过一种被称为潮汐变形和破坏的过程分开，因为它们靠近行星。该研究团队将使用计算机模拟，并从观察到检查潮汐破坏如何改变NEAS的人群。他们将解决诸如创建了多少片段，轨道是什么以及可以归因于该过程的奇数形状等主题。这将为他们的历史和潜在未来提供重要的见解，并与行星防御相关。更广泛的影响利用了NEAS的公众的兴趣继续进行长期运行的公共外展计划，并构建可访问的工具集和课程计划，以供广泛使用。美洲的小行星是太阳能系统中最接近，最良好的对象，但尚不知道在neas eNeas中造成的潮流效果尚不清楚。该研究团队将建模具有近距离陆地行星的碎片的瓦砾 - 毛皮小行星的相互作用。他们将确定其软球离散代码是否可以产生一些不规则形状的NEAS，重新加工其表面，并改变近地小行星的大小和轨道分布。通过对颗粒之间的表面相互作用的准确建模，该组将捕获摩擦力和不规则形状的效果，构成了完整的潮汐破坏模型的碎片。在整个可能的遭遇场景（近距离和速度）的整个范围内进行测试，包括一系列旋转状态（旋转轴心取向和旋转速度）和内部结构（大型内部块），将用于创建成果的目录，以估算这种过程逐渐改变了近乎近距离的人群，以估计有多大的影响。任务，并通过评估使用基金会的知识分子和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为是宝贵的支持。