Ejecta fragmentation in impacts into gypsum and water ice

K. Miljković (1) , N.J. Mason (1) , J.C. Zarnecki (2)

1 Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
2 OU - The Open University [Milton Keynes]

► The size distribution of impact induced solid ejecta from gypsum and water ice has been investigated in impact experiments. ► Preliminary results show that the size distribution of the ejecta fragments from water ice is very similar to those from gypsum. ► The comparison with other authors for similar materials at a range of impact conditions indicated that the fragmentation seems not to be strongly dependent on impact parameters such are projectile material, size, velocity, or incident angle. ► These results represent a step towards a better understanding of ejecta fragmentation in geological materials, which could also be used as icy planetary surface analogues.

Mots clés: Impact processes; Ices; Satellites; Surfaces

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

K. Miljković, N.J. Mason, J.C. Zarnecki. Ejecta fragmentation in impacts into gypsum and water ice. Icarus, 2011, 214 (2), pp.739. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2011.05.036⟩. ⟨hal-00786879⟩