SHINeS: Space and High-Irradiance Near-Sun Simulator

• We present SHINeS, a space simulator which can be used to replicate the thermal environment in the immediate neighborhood of the Sun down to a heliocentric distance r ∼ 0.06 au. The system consists of three main parts: the solar simulator which was designed and constructed in-house, a vacuum chamber, and the probing and recording equipment needed to monitor the experimental procedures. Our motivation for building this experimental system was to study the effect of intense solar radiation on the surfaces of asteroids when their perihelion distances become smaller than the semi-major axis of the orbit of Mercury. Comparisons between observational data and recent orbit and size-frequency models of the population of near-Earth asteroids suggest that asteroids are super-catastrophically destroyed when they approach the Sun. Whereas the current models are agnostic about the disruption mechanism, SHINeS was developed to study the mechanism or mechanisms responsible. The system can, however, be used for other applications that need to study the effects of high solar radiation on other natural or artificial objects.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Fusion, plasma och rymdfysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Earth (planet)

Orbits

Population statistics

Radiation effects

Simulators

Solar radiation

Experimental procedure

Experimental system

Heliocentric distances

Neighbourhood

Recording equipment

Semimajor axis

Solar simulator

Sun simulator

Thermal environment

Vacuum chambers

Asteroids

Onboard space systems

Rymdtekniska system

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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