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Long-term trends of regolith movement on the surface of small bodies

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Abstract

This paper studies the long-term migration of disturbed regolith materials on the surface of Solar System small bodies from the viewpoint of nonlinear dynamics. We propose an approximation model for secular mass movement, which combines the complex topography and irregular gravitational field. Choosing asteroid 101955 Bennu as a representative, the global change of the dynamical environment is examined, which presents a division of the creeping-sliding-shedding regions for a spun-up asteroid. In the creeping region, the dynamical equation of disturbed regolith grains is established based on the assumption of “trigger-slide” motion mode. The equilibrium points, local manifolds and large-scale trajectories of the system are calculated to clarify the dynamical characteristics of long-term regolith movement. Generally, we find that for a low spin rate, the surface regolith grains flow toward the middle latitudes from the polar/equatorial regions, which is dominated by the gradient of the geopotential. While spun up to a high rate, regolith grains tend to migrate toward the equator, which happens in parallel with a topological shift of the local equilibrium points at low latitudes. From a long-term perspective, we find the equilibrium points dominate the global trends of regolith movements. Using the methodology developed in this paper, we give a prospect or retrospect to the secular motion of regolith materials during the spin-up process, and the results reveal a significant regulatory role of the equilibrium points. Through a detailed look at the dynamical scheme under different spin rates, we achieve a macro forecast of the global trends of regolith motion during the spin-up process, which explains the global geologic evolution driven by the long-term movements of regolith materials.

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Data availibility

The data that support the plots and other findings within this paper are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Data used in Fig. 2 can be found at https://www.asteroidmission.org/updated-bennu-shape-model-3d-files/ under panel PRELIMINARY SHAPE MODEL (NOV. 2018).

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Acknowledgements

Y.Y. acknowledges financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grant No. 12022212.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aeronautic Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Chenyang Huang, Yang Yu & Qingyun Wang

  2. School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Bin Cheng

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Huang, C., Yu, Y., Cheng, B. et al. Long-term trends of regolith movement on the surface of small bodies. Nonlinear Dyn 110, 2283–2296 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-022-07687-x

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