42,885 research outputs found
ASIME 2018 White Paper. In-Space Utilisation of Asteroids: Asteroid Composition -- Answers to Questions from the Asteroid Miners
In keeping with the Luxembourg government's initiative to support the future
use of space resources, ASIME 2018 was held in Belval, Luxembourg on April
16-17, 2018.
The goal of ASIME 2018: Asteroid Intersections with Mine Engineering, was to
focus on asteroid composition for advancing the asteroid in-space resource
utilisation domain. What do we know about asteroid composition from
remote-sensing observations? What are the potential caveats in the
interpretation of Earth-based spectral observations? What are the next steps to
improve our knowledge on asteroid composition by means of ground-based and
space-based observations and asteroid rendez-vous and sample return missions?
How can asteroid mining companies use this knowledge?
ASIME 2018 was a two-day workshop of almost 70 scientists and engineers in
the context of the engineering needs of space missions with in-space asteroid
utilisation. The 21 Questions from the asteroid mining companies were sorted
into the four asteroid science themes: 1) Potential Targets, 2)
Asteroid-Meteorite Links, 3) In-Situ Measurements and 4) Laboratory
Measurements. The Answers to those Questions were provided by the scientists
with their conference presentations and collected by A. Graps or edited
directly into an open-access collaborative Google document or inserted by A.
Graps using additional reference materials. During the ASIME 2018, first day
and second day Wrap-Ups, the answers to the questions were discussed further.
New readers to the asteroid mining topic may find the Conversation boxes and
the Mission Design discussions especially interesting.Comment: Outcome from the ASIME 2018: Asteroid Intersections with Mine
Engineering, Luxembourg. April 16-17, 2018. 65 Pages. arXiv admin note:
substantial text overlap with arXiv:1612.0070
Characterization of the near-Earth Asteroid 2002NY40
In August 2002, the near-Earth asteroid 2002 NY40, made its closest approach
to the Earth. This provided an opportunity to study a near-Earth asteroid with
a variety of instruments. Several of the telescopes at the Maui Space
Surveillance System were trained at the asteroid and collected adaptive optics
images, photometry and spectroscopy. Analysis of the imagery reveals the
asteroid is triangular shaped with significant self-shadowing. The photometry
reveals a 20-hour period and the spectroscopy shows that the asteroid is a
Q-type
Asteroid taxonomic signatures from photometric phase curves
We explore the correlation between an asteroid's taxonomy and photometric
phase curve using the H, G12 photometric phase function, with the shape of the
phase function described by the single parameter G12. We explore the usability
of G12 in taxonomic classification for individual objects, asteroid families,
and dynamical groups. We conclude that the mean values of G12 for the
considered taxonomic complexes are statistically different, and also discuss
the overall shape of the G12 distribution for each taxonomic complex. Based on
the values of G12 for about half a million asteroids, we compute the
probabilities of C, S, and X complex membership for each asteroid. For an
individual asteroid, these probabilities are rather evenly distributed over all
of the complexes, thus preventing meaningful classification. We then present
and discuss the G12 distributions for asteroid families, and predict the
taxonomic complex preponderance for asteroid families given the distribution of
G12 in each family. For certain asteroid families, the probabilistic prediction
of taxonomic complex preponderance can clearly be made. The Nysa-Polana family
shows two distinct regions in the proper element space with different G12
values dominating in each region. We conclude that the G12-based probabilistic
distribution of taxonomic complexes through the main belt agrees with the
general view of C complex asteroid proportion increasing towards the outer
belt. We conclude that the G12 photometric parameter cannot be used in
determining taxonomic complex for individual asteroids, but it can be utilized
in the statistical treatment of asteroid families and different regions of the
main asteroid belt.Comment: submitted to Icaru
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