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Paper: Space Weathering on Near-Earth Objects
Volume: 424, Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Hellenic Astronomical Society
Page: 85
Authors: Plainaki, C.; Milillo, A.; Orsini, S.; Mura, A.; De Angelis, E.; Di Lellis, A. M.; Livi, S.
Abstract: In many planetary environments of the solar system, direct plasma precipitation on a surface can result in neutral particle release. Solar wind ion-sputtering (IS) is one of the most important agents for the surface erosion of a near-Earth object (NEO), acting together with other release processes, such as photon stimulated desorption (PSD), thermal desorption (TD) and micrometeoroid impact vaporization (MIV). Since all other release processes produce particles of lower energies, the presence of neutral atoms in the energy range above 10 eV and below a few keVs (sputtered high-energy atoms (SHEA)) identifies the IS. Investigation of the active release processes, as a function of the external conditions and the NEO surface properties, is crucial for obtaining a clear view of the body’s present loss rate as well as for getting clues on its evolution. In this work, we study the space weathering processes on a NEO-surface, via the recently proposed SPAWN model and we discuss our results.
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