Space Imaging and Optical Systems Lab

SIOS Lab graduate student, Colby Merrill, contributed to work that models the formation scenario of Dinkinesh’s strange satellite, Selam! The contact binary shape of Selam is likely a result of smaller moonlets merging at speeds near their escape velocities. This multi-moonlet formation scenario also has implications for binary asteroid satellites in general, and sheds light on the poorly constrained shapes of asteroid moons. The paper detailing these results, Multiple moonlet mergers as the origin of the Dinkinesh-Selam system, was published in Nature Communications on December 11.

Event-Based Sensor Noise Modeling for Space-Based Space Domain Awareness, led by Dr. Rachel Oliver, has been published in the Journal of Astronautical Sciences.  This work presents the most detailed, physics-based, end-to-end model for event-based vision sensors observing space objects created to date.

As a member of the NASA/DART team, SIOSlab graduate student Colby Merrill contributed to work that was recently published in Nature Communications! The two articles focus on the morphology and evolution of ejecta created by the DART impact and how those features can be used to inform observations and future kinetic impact missions. The article “Elliptical ejecta of asteroid Dimorphos is due to its surface curvature” examines how momentum transfer into asteroids works as a function of surface curvature and provides recommendations for future asteroid deflection missions. The article “Morphology of ejecta features from the impact on asteroid Dimorphos” constrains the size distribution of ejected particles by the DART impact and finds that the complex multi-tail and spiral features in the ejecta are diagnostic features of a binary system.