Meteorite Ablation at the HYMETS ARC-JET Facility

One of the primary goals of the Asteroid Threat Assessment Program (ATAP) is to understand the ablation phenomena of meteors (e.g., spallation, evaporation, melt flow, etc.). Therefore, a test campaign was executed at the Hypersonic Material Test System (HYMETS) facility on samples of an ordinary chondrite (e.g., Tamdakht) and samples of basalt from the Columbia plateau.

High melt viscosities and low ablation rates are predicted for basalt due to higher concentrations of silica and alumina in the matrix phase. However, high-speed video and post-test analysis reveal that basalt experiences greater rates of ablation than Tamdakht. Post-test analysis of emission spectra reveals the presence of volatile species that may explain the discrepancy between model predictions and observed phenomena.