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Description
The asteroid 16 Psyche is the largest known metal asteroid in the main belt, and as a result is a prime target for potential in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) and commercial asteroid mining. Before it can be determined if this would be physically or financially viable, a significant amount of research is needed, particularly into the surface material, conditions and behaviours.
This work aims to improve the understanding of impact processes on such metal asteroids and to predict if there will be an iron-nickel rich regolith present, which could be used for ISRU. This investigation focuses on the response of the internal Widmanstätten crystal pattern to high-speed impacts.
Small copper projectiles (~2mm) were fired into a piece of the metal meteorite Henbury at approximately 4kms-1 to determine if the crystals would melt or shatter, and whether the crystal structure would be a significant factor. If the crystals shattered out, producing metal-rich ejecta then it would be more likely that on a large metal asteroid, there would be a metallic regolith. If instead they melted, then it would be unlikely that these crystals would significantly contribute to the production of an asteroidal regolith. Initial analysis of these experiments will be presented in this poster.
This work aims to better predict the impact processes on the surface of the asteroid Psyche by performing hypervelocity impacts on to a metal meteorite. Further investigation into the nature of surface processes and regolith formation on metal asteroids will provide progress towards enabling and derisking near future ISRU activities.