Contact dynamics investigation towards microgravity experiment for asteroid-related scenarios

Area of Science:

• Planetary Science
• Granular Physics
• Computational Physics

Background:

• Asteroids are granular aggregates, requiring accurate particle-scale simulation for realistic dynamics.
• Current N-body codes struggle with unexpected granular behaviors observed on asteroid surfaces.
• Improved models are crucial for supporting future asteroid exploration missions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate contact physics in asteroid-related scenarios through experimentation.
• To calibrate N-body codes with experimental data for enhanced simulation accuracy.
• To develop a digital twin for precise trajectory reproduction of asteroid simulant collisions.

Main Methods:

• Designing and setting up an experiment to collide asteroid simulant cobbles in microgravity and vacuum.
• Developing a digital twin to replicate the observed 6-degrees-of-freedom trajectories.
• Implementing strategies for state and contact parameter estimation of the cobbles.

Main Results:

• Preliminary numerical simulations demonstrate good performance in state and parameter estimation.
• Identified requirements and constraints for experimental components.
• Established guidelines for future experimental development.

Conclusions:

• Experimental data is essential for fine-tuning and calibrating contact parameters in multi-body codes.
• Accurate particle-scale modeling significantly enhances the realism of asteroid dynamics simulations.
• The developed methodology provides a strong foundation for future asteroid exploration research.