20-EPN2-068: Primitive Space Materials (PriSMa)

Visit by Chrysa Avdellidou of the Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur (France) to TA2.7 Light Gas Gun Laboratory, University of Kent (UK)
Dates of visit: 17-21 April 2023

Report summary: Simulants of surface materials for various small bodies were sourced, characterised and formed into blocks. These blocks were sent to the University of Kent and used as targets in their two-stage light gas gun. An extensive programme of 20 shots was carried out at speeds from 0.39 to 4.9 km/s. This covers a range from low speed impacts up to the mean speed of impacts in the asteroid belt (5 km/s). All targets were weighed and imaged before each shot. Post-shot, the resulting impact craters were all been imaged, and crater size and shape have been measured. Crater ejecta was also collected. More detailed analysis is underway. With the results so far, it is now possible to predict crater shape in the strength regime over a wide speed range for such bodies and estimate the volume of ejected material. This experimental campaign included novel impact experiments to study the contamination of primitive bodies surfaces by foreign material.

This programme was successful and is being used to interpret remote sensing data from previous and upcoming space missions, such as OSIRIS-REx and MMX.

 

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