This work uses data from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s laser altimeter to recreate the surface of asteroid Bennu and explore how the properties of its boulders contribute to its rough landscape texture.
Bennu’s boulders are widely observed to be fracturing, flaking, and crumbling apart, a synergy between stresses caused by daily heating and cooling from the Sun and the layered texture of their clay minerals. Chemistry and dehydration likely also play a role, as study of the rock samples returned by OSIRIS-REx indicates they are rich in carbon and organic molecules, and have been aqueously altered in the past. Study of these samples provides a window into the conditions of the early solar system when the asteroids and planets formed.
The topography in this scene shows a limb view of Bennu’s largest boulder Benben, cut from scientific manuscripts studying aqueous alteration. Each page was altered itself using water and black paint made from carbon, allowed to curl and deform naturally given the shape of the contour and relative wetness of the paper.
Jamie L. Molaro 