On the orbital dependence of the asteroidal collision process

Abstract

Collision of asteroids with the main-belt asteroid population is considered with the effect of the impact kinetic energy taken into account. It is found that objects in eccentric orbits have a larger probability of destructive collision as compared to objects in orbits with mean values of eccentricity ( e = 0.15) and inclination ( i = 10°); also orbits with small semimajor axes ( a ≈ 2.3 AU) are found to have peak values of the probability of destructive collision.