NASA NTRS · 20210011434
The operational environment and rotational acceleration of asteroid (101955) Bennu from OSIRIS-REx observations
Abstract
During its approach to asteroid (101955) Bennu, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft surveyed Bennu's immediate environment, photometric properties, and rotation state. Discovery of a dusty environment, a natural satellite, or unexpected asteroid characteristics would have had consequences for the mission's safety and observation strategy. Here we show that spacecraft observations during this period were highly sensitive to satellites (sub-meter scale) but reveal none, although later navigational images indicate that further investigation is needed. We constrain average dust production in September 2018 from Bennu's surface to an upper limit of 150g s −1 averaged over 34 min. Bennu's disk-integrated photometric phase function validates measurements from the pre-encounter astronomical campaign. We demonstrate that Bennu's rotation rate is accelerating continuously at 3.63+- 0.52 x10 −6 degrees A day -2 , likely due to the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack (YORP) effect, with evolutionary implications.
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Carl William Hergenrother, C K Maleszewski, M C Nolan, J-Y Li, Christian Yann Drouet D'Aubigny, F C Shelly, E S Howell, Theodore Kareta, M R M Izawa, M A Barucci, Edward B Bierhaus, Humberto Campins, Steven R Chesley, B E Clark, E J Christensen, Daniella N DellaGiustina, Sonia Fornasier, D R Golish, Christine M Hartzell, B Rizk, D J Scheeres, Peter H Smith, X-D Zou, D S Lauretta, D E Highsmith, J Small, D Vokrouhlický, N E Bowles, E Brown, K L Donaldson Hanna, T Warren, C Brunet, R A Chicoine, S Desjardins, D Gaudreau, T Haltigin, Scott A Sandford, Amy Aqueche, Ben Ashman, Michael Barker, Arlin Bartels, Brent Bos, Rich Burns, Andrea Calloway, Russell Carpenter, Nayi Castro, J P Dworkin, Jamie Elsila Cook, David Folta, Kenneth Getzandanner, Kelly Hyde, Nancy Jones, L F Lim, Charles Lorentson, Joshua Lyzhoft, Erwan M Mazarico, Ronald Mink, Devin Poland, Lisa Rhoads, Samantha Rieger, David Rowlands, Sara Millington-Veloza, K Berry, R Cosentino, J Donaldson, C Emr, D Everett, D Fennell, Kelly Fleshman, D Gallagher, J Garvin, D Glavin, S Hull, Haisam Ido, A. Ingegneri, P. Kaotira, A Liounis, D Lorenz, W Moore, M Moreau, S Mullen, J Nagy, G Neumann, J Nuth, D C Reuter, Debbie Sallitt, A Scroggins, G Shaw, A A Simon, J Swenson, Priti Vasudeva, M Wasser, Ron Zellar, J Grossman, G Johnston, M Morris, J. Wendel, A. Burton, Lindsay P Keller, Luke McNamara. 2019-03-19. The operational environment and rotational acceleration of asteroid (101955) Bennu from OSIRIS-REx observations. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20210011434
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