Morphological diversity of impact craters on asteroid (16) Psyche: insight from numerical models
File(s)2020JE006466.pdf (1.15 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Raducan, SD
Davison, TM
Collins, GS
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The asteroid (16) Psyche, target of NASA's “Psyche” mission, is thought to be one of the most massive exposed iron cores in the solar system. Earth‐based observations suggest that Psyche has a metal‐rich surface; however, its internal structure cannot be determined from ground‐based observations. Here we simulate impacts into a variety of possible target structures on Psyche and show the possible diversity in crater morphologies that the “Psyche” mission could encounter. If Psyche's interior is homogeneous, then the mission will find simple bowl‐shaped craters, with a depth‐diameter ratio diagnostic of rock or iron. Craters will be much deeper than those on other visited asteroids and possess much more spectacular rims if the surface is dominated by metallic iron. On the other hand, if Psyche has a layered structure, the spacecraft could find craters with more complex morphologies, such as concentric or flat‐floored craters. Furthermore, if ferrovolcanism occurred on Psyche, then the morphology of craters less than 2 km in diameter could be even more exotic. Based on three to four proposed large craters on Psyche's surface, model size‐frequency distributions suggest that if Psyche is indeed an exposed iron core, then the spacecraft will encounter a very old and evolved surface, that would be 4.5 Gyr old. For a rocky surface, then Psyche could be at least 3 Gyr old.
Date Issued
2020-09
Date Acceptance
2020-08-26
Citation
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 2020, 125 (9), pp.1-19
ISSN
2169-9097
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Start Page
1
End Page
19
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Volume
125
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
©2020. The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Identifier
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JE006466
Grant Number
ST/S000615/1
Subjects
0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences
0402 Geochemistry
0403 Geology
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-09-04