An Airborne Observing Campaign of an Announced Small Asteroid Impact for High Fidelity Impact Modeling Validation

Abstract:

High fidelity modeling of an asteroid impact requires a known size, mass, shape, entry orientation, entry speed, entry angle, time and location of entry, and material properties of the impacting asteroid. Much of that information can be gathered from small asteroids on an impact trajectory with Earth while they are on approach, given sufficient warning time. That makes small asteroid impacts uniquely suited for collecting data to validate such models. One-meter sized asteroids impact Earth about once a week, 4-meter sized asteroids impact once a year. So far, only asteroid 2008 TC3 was observed in space, characterized prior to impact, and then recovered in part as meteorites on the ground. The next TC3-like impact could provide more warming time to study the impact in detail. Close to 70 percent of all asteroid impacts on Earth occur over the ocean. Hence, small asteroid impact observations require an instrumented airborne platform to take a multi-disciplined research team to the right location at the right time. From a safe 100-km distance, the impact would be observed low enough in the sky to study the process of fragmentation that dictates at which altitude the kinetic energy is deposited that can cause an airburst. Constraints on radiative heating, ablation rate, and fragmentation processes can be obtained from measuring the air plasma emission escaping the shock, elemental atom line emissions and excitation conditions, pressure broadening, and deceleration in the plane of the known trajectory. It is also possible to measure wake, lightcurve and air plasma emission line intensities early in flight that can be used to evaluate the presence of regolith and the internal cohesion of asteroids. The main element abundance (asteroid composition) can be measured for individual fragments, while CN-band emission can point to the presence of organic matter. Such information will help constrain the meteorite type if no meteorites can be recovered in an over-the-ocean impact (e.g., ordinary chondrites with low or high iron content). The observed altitude of disruption can be used to direct airborne dust collection efforts in the atmosphere. To prepare for such observing campaign and the quick recovery of meteorites, if possible, an international "Next TC3 Consortium" was established. For more information: http://impact.seti.org.