Abstract
The binary asteroid 65803 Didymos-Dimorphos is the target of the first asteroid deflection test (NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, DART) and the first binary asteroid system that will be characterized by a rendezvous mission (ESA's Hera). The cohesive strength of the fast-spin-primary Didymos is a key factor that could affect the impact outcome and stability of this system. To support the preparation and data interpretation of these missions and gain a better understanding of the formation and evolution of this system, we investigate the structural stability and cohesive strength of Didymos based on current observational information. We use the Didymos radar shape model to construct rubble-pile models consisting of ~40,000 to ~100,000 particles with different arrangements and size distributions. To investigate the effect of cohesion on the structural stability and dynamical behaviors of Didymos, we explicitly simulate the YORP spin-up process of these rubble-pile models from a slow spin state to Didymos' current spin state using a high-efficiency soft-sphere-discrete-element-model code, pkdgrav. We test the creep stability of Didymos' rubble-pile representation with different values of cohesion and derive the critical amount of cohesion to maintain stability. The results show that Didymos should at least have a minimum bulk cohesion on the order of 10 Pa to maintain its structural stability if the interparticle tensile strength is uniformly distributed. Since the surface particles are less bonded by cohesive contacts than the interior particles, the internal macroscopic cohesion is about three times the surface macroscopic cohesion. We find that the bulk density and particle arrangement and size distribution of Didymos have significant influences on its critical cohesion and failure behaviors, indicating different binary formation pathways. With the critical cohesion, Didymos is at the edge of maintaining a stable shape, and a rapid small decrease in its spin period would excite its rubble-pile structure and lead to reshaping or mass shedding. Whether the DART impact could partially or globally destabilize this system requires further investigation of the full two-body gravitational dynamics and the ejecta evolution. With the expected measurements returned by DART's onboard cubesat LICIACube in 2022 and Hera in 2027, the correlations between Didymos' physical properties and failure behaviors found in this study may be possible to constrain the mechanical properties and evolutionary history of this binary system.
Highlights
This paper is the second in a series of papers devoted to investigating the stability and physical properties of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos-Dimorphos
This asteroid system is the target of the first asteroid deflection test involving NASA’s DART (Cheng et al, 2018) and ESA’s Hera (Michel et al, 2018) missions, both being approved by their respective agencies and in development for launch in 2021 and 2024, respectively
In the first paper (Zhang et al, 2017), hereafter referred to as paper I, we investigated the creep stability of the primary Didymos in the absence of Dimorphos, with an assumption that it is a cohesionless spinning self-gravitating aggregate
Summary
This paper is the second in a series of papers devoted to investigating the stability and physical properties of the binary asteroid (65803) Didymos-Dimorphos. This asteroid system is the target of the first asteroid deflection test involving NASA’s DART (Cheng et al, 2018) and ESA’s Hera (Michel et al, 2018) missions, both being approved by their respective agencies and in development for launch in 2021 and 2024, respectively. In the first paper (Zhang et al, 2017), hereafter referred to as paper I, we investigated the creep stability of the primary Didymos in the absence of Dimorphos, with an assumption that it is a cohesionless spinning self-gravitating aggregate (a rubble-pile structure is considered to be an appropriate model for most small asteroids; Richardson et al, 2002). For some very special in ternal configurations (i.e., a hexagonal close packing or a higher-density core), these rubble-pile representations can be marginally stable if their bulk densities are close to the maximum possible bulk density estimated from observations (i.e., ~2.4–2.5 g/cc)
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