Destruction of Asteroids Close to the Sun

Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) undergo a super-catastrophic destruction at small perihelion distances, which significantly increases the meteoroid population in the inner Solar System. The destruction mechanism is currently unknown, but probably depends on the interior composition and structure of NEAs.

If the destruction process would be known, it could be accounted for in evolutionary models of the NEA population thus providing constraints on the interior characteristics of asteroids in general, a key knowledge gap in planetary science.

The primary reason for our lack of understanding of the destruction mechanisms is that there is a lack of experimental results that allow us to test existing theories, and that guide the development of new theories.

Here we propose to carry out the experimental work missing by utilizing our new custom-made lab equipment during a 4- year project.

Together with the PhD student to be hired, and supported by national and international collaborators, we will heat up meteorites, asteroid simulants, and asteroid analogues, that is, terrestrial minerals also found on asteroids, in vacuum mimicking the effect that the solar heating has on asteroids over a heliocentric distance of about 0.05–0.4 au.

In addition to testing the existing hypotheses and developing models of the destruction of asteroid constituents, the proposed research also support planetary exploration missions such as JAXA´s DESTINY+ and our Icarus concept currently considered by ESA.