Ejecta cloud from the AIDA space project kinetic impact on the secondary of a binary asteroid: II. Fates and evolutionary dependencies

Abstract

This paper presents a quantitative study of the evolution of the ejecta cloud released from a hypervelocity impact on a binary asteroid. The Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission project in collaboration between NASA and ESA aims to perform an asteroid deflection demonstration, using a half-ton projectile that will perform a hypervelocity impact on the surface of the secondary of the binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos, called hereafter Didymoon. We performed numerical simulations of the post-impact dynamics of the ejecta cloud in the framework of the current mission scenario of AIDA. Our analysis relies on a classification of the orbits as a function of the ejecta fates, e.g., a collision with one of the binary components or the escape from the region of influence of the system. A grid search of launching sites of ejecta was defined over the globe of Didymoon, and considering a wide range of possible ejection speeds, we determined the dependency of ejecta fate on launching sites (projectile impact sites) and speeds. This range enables us to track all the complex cases that include different types of dynamical fates. The results reveal the detailed proportions of the ejecta that are either orbiting, escaping or re-accreting on the primary/secondary at the end of the considered timescale, as a function of the ejection speed, which allows us to explore the global characteristics of the ejecta dynamical fates. Two major mechanisms are found to be working broadly during the post-ejection evolution of the ejecta cloud: 1) ejecta on mean motion resonance orbits with Didymoon produce long-term quasi-periodic showers onto Didymoon over at least a couple of weeks after the projectile impact, 2) ejecta on non-resonant orbits produce a rapid and high re-accretion flux. This rapid and high flux occurs just once because ejecta on such orbits leave the system unless they experience a collision during their first encounter. For both mechanisms, swing-bys of Didymoon are found to occur. These swing-bys are a source of chaotic motion because the outcome of the swing-by is extremely sensitive to the ejecta initial conditions. Moreover, for all ejecta speeds, a zone free of ejecta is noticed to emerge around the mid-latitude zone of the celestial sphere about two months after the projectile impact. Also, the extent of this zone depends on the ejecta speed. For the second part of this study, we performed full-scale simulations of the ejecta cloud released from 6 hypothetical impact sites. To define the initial conditions of the ejecta based on cratering scaling laws, we considered two kinds of material composing Didymoon’s subsurface and then combined a power-law size distribution of the ejecta with an ejection speed distribution. We find that the ejecta cloud evolution can be divided in two periods. It starts with a first violent period (<10 h) with fast re-accretion or ejection of the ejecta from the system. A second period is found to be more sensitive to the launching site than the first one. During this second period, ejecta will either re-accrete or being ejected from the system, depending both on their sizes and on their average survival time in close proximity of the binary components. There is thus a size-sorting effect dictated by the solar radiation pressure, which proves to be efficient to move out of the system the dust-size ejecta (<1 mm) for all considered launching sites and material types. On the other hand, the larger ejecta, being less or not affected by the solar radiation pressure, can survive longer in the system.