Structural stability of China's asteroid mission target 2016 HO3 and its possible structure

Abstract

Asteroid 2016 HO3, a small asteroid (<60 m) in super fast rotation state (~28 min), and is the target of China's Tianwen-2 asteroid sample-return mission. In this work, we investigate its structural stability using an advanced soft-sphere-discrete-element-model code, DEMBody, which is integrated with bonded-aggregate models to simulate highly irregular boulders. The asteroid body is numerically constructed by tens of thousands particles, and then is slowly spin up until structural failure. Rubble piles with different morphologies, grain size distributions and structures are investigated. We find a 2016 HO3 shaped granular asteroid would undergo tensile failure at higher cohesive strengths as opposed to shear failure in lower strengths, regardless of its shape and constituent grain size ratio. Such a failure mode transition is consistent with the priority between the Maximum Tensile Stress criterion criterion and the Drucker-Prager criterion. Therefore, previous works that solely considered the Drucker-Prager failure criterion have underestimated the minimal cohesion strength required for fast-rotating asteroids. We predict that the high spin rate of asteroid 2016 HO3 requires a surface cohesion over ~1 Pa and a bulk cohesion over ~10-20 Pa. Through comparing these strength conditions with the latest data from asteroid missions, we suggest a higher likelihood of a monolithic structure over a typical rubble pile structure. However, the possibility of the latter cannot be completely ruled out. In addition, the asteroid's surface could retain a loose regolith layer globally or only near its poles, which could be the target for sampling of Tianwen-2 mission.