Three-dimensional Simulation of Surface Charging in Meteorite Craters on Rotating Asteroids

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Song, Zhiying, Liu, Zhigui, Quan, Ronghui
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Song, Zhiying
Liu, Zhigui
Quan, Ronghui
author_facet Song, Zhiying
Liu, Zhigui
Quan, Ronghui
contents Meteorite craters on the asteroid surface obstruct the horizontal flow of solar wind, forming a plasma wake that modulates the particle fluxes and the electrostatic environment far downstream. In this study, surface charging properties of asteroids with nontrivial terrain are simulated based on neural network and the finite element method. Key factors such as the location, size and depth-to-width ratio of craters are all considered. Under normal conditions, as the latitude of the crater increases, the potential variation at its floor during a rotation gradually becomes smoother, finally stabilizing around -3V with minor fluctuations as the crater approaches the poles. For craters with a depth-to-width ratio greater than 0.5, because of the diverging motions of electrons and the less deflected trajectories of ions, completely different charging results are observed under parallel and perpendicular solar wind incidence, the potential around the crater floor decreases and increases with the rising depth-to-width ratio, respectively. While the surface potential appears indifferent to changes in crater size, only during solar storms, the floor of large-scale craters, such as those with a diameter of 800m, perform a 9.13V decrease in potential compared to small craters of 50m. Both studies of localized plasma flow field and the surface charging phenomenon of asteroids have substantial influence on the future safe landing and exploration missions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_20076
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Three-dimensional Simulation of Surface Charging in Meteorite Craters on Rotating Asteroids
Song, Zhiying
Liu, Zhigui
Quan, Ronghui
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
Meteorite craters on the asteroid surface obstruct the horizontal flow of solar wind, forming a plasma wake that modulates the particle fluxes and the electrostatic environment far downstream. In this study, surface charging properties of asteroids with nontrivial terrain are simulated based on neural network and the finite element method. Key factors such as the location, size and depth-to-width ratio of craters are all considered. Under normal conditions, as the latitude of the crater increases, the potential variation at its floor during a rotation gradually becomes smoother, finally stabilizing around -3V with minor fluctuations as the crater approaches the poles. For craters with a depth-to-width ratio greater than 0.5, because of the diverging motions of electrons and the less deflected trajectories of ions, completely different charging results are observed under parallel and perpendicular solar wind incidence, the potential around the crater floor decreases and increases with the rising depth-to-width ratio, respectively. While the surface potential appears indifferent to changes in crater size, only during solar storms, the floor of large-scale craters, such as those with a diameter of 800m, perform a 9.13V decrease in potential compared to small craters of 50m. Both studies of localized plasma flow field and the surface charging phenomenon of asteroids have substantial influence on the future safe landing and exploration missions.
title Three-dimensional Simulation of Surface Charging in Meteorite Craters on Rotating Asteroids
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.20076