JAWIN , E

Rubble pile asteroids are widely understood to be composed of reaccumulated debris following a catastrophic collision between asteroids in the main asteroid belt, where each disruption can make a family of new asteroids. Near-Earth asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have been linked to collisional families in the main asteroid belt, but surface age...

An asteroid's history is determined in large part by its strength against collisions with other objects1,2 (impact strength). Laboratory experiments on centimetre-scale meteorites3 have been extrapolated and buttressed with numerical simulations to derive the impact strength at the asteroid scale4,5. In situ evidence of impacts on boulders on...

This paper summarizes the evidence for the optical effects of space weathering, as well as the properties of the surface that control optical changes, on asteroid (101955) Bennu. First, we set the stage by briefly reviewing what was known about space weathering of low-albedo materials from telescopic surveys, laboratory simulations, and sample...