AbstractWe present an overview of the laser altimeter(LIDAR) results for asteroid 25143 Itokawa. The trace of a 7×12-m elliptical beam spot made it possible to determine the local surface topography with an accuracy of a few meters in altitude, from a home position roughly 7km above the surface. Sequential detection of the altitude of the spacecraft during two orbital spans of descent for sampling allowed determination of the asteroid mass as 3.58×1010kg±5% and 3.54×1010kg±6%, which are consistent with the most probable mass estimate of 3.51×1010kg±3% given by Fujiwara et al. [Fujiwara, A., Kawaguchi, J., Yeomans, D.K. et al., 2006. The rubble-pile asteroid Itokawa as observed by Hayabusa. Science 312, 1330–1334]. Together with the total volume of the asteroid deduced from a shape model (i.e., 1.84×107m3±3%), this estimate by LIDAR suggests that asteroid Itokawa has a low density of 1.9g/cm3±9% and a high bulk porosity of about 40%.
An overview of the LIDAR observations of asteroid 25143 Itokawa
Advances in Space Research ; 40 , 2 ; 187-192
2007-04-20
6 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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