Near-zero cohesion and loose packing of Bennu's near subsurface revealed by spacecraft contact - Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur Access content directly
Journal Articles Science Advances Year : 2022

Near-zero cohesion and loose packing of Bennu's near subsurface revealed by spacecraft contact

Kevin J Walsh
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  • PersonId : 1151350
Ronald-Louis Ballouz
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Erica R Jawin
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Chrysa Avdellidou
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Olivier S Barnouin
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Carina A Bennett
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Edward B Bierhaus
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Brent J Bos
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Saverio Cambioni
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Harold C Connolly
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Marco Delbo
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Daniella N Dellagiustina
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Joseph Demartini
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Joshua P Emery
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Dathon R Golish
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Patrick C Haas
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Carl W Hergenrother
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Huikang Ma
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Michael C Nolan
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Ryan Olds
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Benjamin Rozitis
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Derek C Richardson
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Bashar Rizk
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Andrew J Ryan
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Paul Sánchez
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Daniel J Scheeres
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Stephen R Schwartz
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Sanford H Selznick
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Yun Zhang
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Dante S Lauretta
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Abstract

When the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft pressed its sample collection mechanism into the surface of Bennu, it provided a direct test of the poorly understood near-subsurface physical properties of rubble-pile asteroids, which consist of rock fragments at rest in microgravity. Here, we find that the forces measured by the spacecraft are best modeled as a granular bed with near-zero cohesion that is half as dense as the bulk asteroid. The low gravity of a small rubble-pile asteroid such as Bennu effectively weakens its near subsurface by not compressing the upper layers, thereby minimizing the influence of interparticle cohesion on surface geology. The underdensity and weak near subsurface should be global properties of Bennu and not localized to the contact point.
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Dates and versions

hal-03733299 , version 1 (21-07-2022)

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Kevin J Walsh, Ronald-Louis Ballouz, Erica R Jawin, Chrysa Avdellidou, Olivier S Barnouin, et al.. Near-zero cohesion and loose packing of Bennu's near subsurface revealed by spacecraft contact. Science Advances , 2022, ⟨10.1126/sciadv.abm6229⟩. ⟨hal-03733299⟩
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