Related papers: Simulating regoliths in microgravity
Exploratory missions have found that regolith on interplanetary bodies can be loosely packed and freely flowing, a state that strongly affects mission plans and that may also influence the large scale shapes of these bodies. We investigate…
A model for the asteroid resurfacing by regolith convection is built to estimate its timescale. In the model, regolith convection is driven by the impact-induced global seismic shaking. The model consists of three steps: (i) intermittent…
Asteroids are leftover pieces from the era of planet formation that help us understand conditions in the early Solar System. Unlike larger planetary bodies that were subject to global thermal modification during and subsequent to their…
We performed micro-gravity collision experiments in our laboratory drop-tower using 5-cm-sized dust agglomerates with volume filling factors of 0.3 and 0.4, respectively. This work is an extension of our previous experiments reported in…
Analyses of impact provide rich insights from the evolution of granular bodies to their structural properties of the surface and subsurface layers of celestial bodies. Although chemical cohesive bonding has been observed in asteroid…
Impacts play a fundamental role in shaping the physical and chemical properties of the objects in our Solar System. Given the challenges in replicating such collisions through laboratory experiments, computer simulations are an important…
Oblique, low-velocity impacts onto extraterrestrial terrain are an inevitable occurrence during space exploration. We conduct two-dimensional discrete simulations to model such impacts into a bed of triangular grains. Finite element method…
Granular materials such as sand, powders, foams etc. are ubiquitous in our daily life, as well as in industrial and geotechnical applications. Although these disordered systems form stable structures if unperturbed, in practice they do…
Softer than soft, squishy granular matter is composed of grains capable of significantly changing their shape (typically larger than 10% of deformation) without tearing or breaking. Because of the difficulty to test these materials…
Understanding dust dynamics in the vicinity of asteroids is key for future science missions and, in the long-term, for asteroid exploitation. This paper analyzes the feasibility of manipulating asteroid material by means of solar radiation…
The exploration of small body asteroids provides direct access to the primitive building blocks of our solar system. Sample and return missions enable chemical and radioisotope studies which not only provide evidence for the formation of…
There are thousands of asteroids in near-Earth space and millions expected in the Main Belt. They are diverse in their physical properties and compositions. They are also time capsules of the early Solar System making them valuable for…
We study the impact of a projectile onto a bed of 3 mm grains immersed in an index-matched fluid. Specifically, we vary the amount of prestrain on the sample, strengthening the force chains within the system. We find this affects only the…
This study is carried out in the framework of sample-return missions to asteroids that use a low-speed projectile as the primary component of its sampling mechanism (e.g., JAXA's Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 missions). We perform numerical…
In this paper we use a Soft-Sphere Discrete Element method code to simulate the transmission and study the attenuation of a seismic wave. Then, we apply our findings to the different space missions that have had to touch the surface of…
Ring systems have been observed around Centaur Chariklo (10199) and other small bodies but their origin and dynamical histories are still debated. These small body ring systems challenge conventional models for the origin of planetary…
Lunar regolith, the layer of unconsolidated material covering the Moon's surface, is central to the science and technology developed for the Moon, notably related to in-situ science investigations, resource utilization, surface…
The extremely weak gravity on small bodies makes landers prone to rebound and uncontrolled drift. To mitigate this, the Hayabusa2 mission employed a particle-filled flexible shell, but the coupled dynamics of shell deformation and internal…
Shear cell simulations and experiments of weakly wetted particles (a few volume percent liquid binders) are compared, with the goal to understand their flow rheology. Application examples are cores for metal casting by core shooting made of…
We compare low velocity impacts that ricochet with the same impact velocity and impact angle into granular media with similar bulk density, porosity and friction coefficient but different mean grain size. The ratio of projectile diameter to…