@article{d77300990b664f538c8c47caa762a658,
title = "Properties of rubble-pile asteroid (101955) Bennu from OSIRIS-REx imaging and thermal analysis",
abstract = "Establishing the abundance and physical properties of regolith and boulders on asteroids is crucial for understanding the formation and degradation mechanisms at work on their surfaces. Using images and thermal data from NASA{\textquoteright}s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft, we show that asteroid (101955) Bennu{\textquoteright}s surface is globally rough, dense with boulders, and low in albedo. The number of boulders is surprising given Bennu{\textquoteright}s moderate thermal inertia, suggesting that simple models linking thermal inertia to particle size do not adequately capture the complexity relating these properties. At the same time, we find evidence for a wide range of particle sizes with distinct albedo characteristics. Our findings imply that ages of Bennu{\textquoteright}s surface particles span from the disruption of the asteroid{\textquoteright}s parent body (boulders) to recent in situ production (micrometre-scale particles).",
author = "{The OSIRIS-REx Team} and DellaGiustina, {D. N.} and Emery, {J. P.} and Golish, {D. R.} and B. Rozitis and Bennett, {C. A.} and Burke, {K. N.} and Ballouz, {R. L.} and Becker, {K. J.} and Christensen, {P. R.} and {Drouet d{\textquoteright}Aubigny}, {C. Y.} and Hamilton, {V. E.} and Reuter, {D. C.} and B. Rizk and Simon, {A. A.} and E. Asphaug and Bandfield, {J. L.} and Barnouin, {O. S.} and Barucci, {M. A.} and Bierhaus, {E. B.} and Binzel, {R. P.} and Bottke, {W. F.} and Bowles, {N. E.} and H. Campins and Clark, {B. C.} and Clark, {B. E.} and Connolly, {H. C.} and Daly, {M. G.} and Leon, {J. de} and M. Delbo{\textquoteright} and Deshapriya, {J. D.P.} and Elder, {C. M.} and S. Fornasier and Hergenrother, {C. W.} and Howell, {E. S.} and Jawin, {E. R.} and Kaplan, {H. H.} and Kareta, {T. R.} and {Le Corre}, L. and Li, {J. Y.} and J. Licandro and Lim, {L. F.} and P. Michel and J. Molaro and Nolan, {M. C.} and M. Pajola and M. Popescu and Garcia, {J. L.Rizos} and A. Ryan and Schwartz, {S. R.} and N. Shultz",
note = "Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported by NASA under contract NNM10AA11C issued through the New Frontiers Program. We thank C. Ernst for providing the data used in Supplementary Fig. 4 to compare the size-frequency distribution of boulders on Bennu to other small bodies. B.R. acknowledges funding support from the Royal Astronomical Society in the form of a research fellowship. P.M. acknowledges funding support from the French space agency CNES and from Academies of Excellence: Complex systems and Space, environment, risk, and resilience, part of the IDEX JEDI of the Universit{\'e} C{\^o}te d{\textquoteright}Azur. M.A.B., J.D.P.D. and S.F. also acknowledge financial support from CNES the French space agency. M.P. acknowledges funding support from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) under the ASI-INAF agreement no. 2017–37-H.0. Part of this work was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. S.R.S. acknowledges support from NASA Grant no. 80NSSC18K0226 as part of the OSIRIS-REx Participating Scientist Program. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",
year = "2019",
month = apr,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1038/s41550-019-0731-1",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "3",
pages = "341--351",
journal = "Nature Astronomy",
issn = "2397-3366",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "4",
}