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Bennu’s Natural Sample Delivery Mechanism: Estimating the Flux of Bennuid Meteors at Earth
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  • Robert Edward Melikyan,
  • Beth Ellen Clark,
  • Carl W Hergenrother,
  • Steven Chesley,
  • Michael C Nolan,
  • Quanzhi Ye,
  • Dante Lauretta
Robert Edward Melikyan
Ithaca College

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Beth Ellen Clark
Ithaca College
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Carl W Hergenrother
University of Arizona
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Steven Chesley
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)
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Michael C Nolan
University of Arizona
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Quanzhi Ye
University of Maryland
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Dante Lauretta
University of Arizona
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Abstract

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission observed millimeter- to centimeter-scale pebbles being ejected from the surface of asteroid (101955) Bennu, indicating that Bennu is an active asteroid. About 30% of these particles escape from Bennu, and the minimum orbital intersection distance (MOID) between Bennu and Earth suggest the possibility of a ‘Bennuid’ particle flux at Earth. We characterize the evolution of Bennu’s particle stream and potential for meteor flux by simulating weekly particle ejections between the years 1780 - 2135 continuing their dynamical evolution until 2200. Ejections are modelled as a discrete release of 95 particles every week. The meteoroid stream is found to circularize in 80 +/- 40 years. Individual particles and streams remain associable to Bennu for the entire 420 years simulated. Particle flux at Earth is predicted to begin in 2101, as the Bennu-Earth MOID reaches minimum values. The year of highest particle flux, 2182, experiences 161 Earth intersections and accounts for ~1/4 of our predicted meteors. Our methods can be expanded to study the history and structure of the general meteoroid population and to estimate flux from specific near-Earth asteroids.