Search

Structural changes in the Seymchan meteoritic substance after the experiments on loading with spherically converging shock waves have been studied by optical and electron microscopy. It was noted that shock pressure and temperature increases from the outer part to the center of the loaded balls. In one experiment with shock-wave loading, it was possible to obtain varieties of textures with different degrees of shock and thermal metamorphism. These results prove that the shock wave loading experiment can be successfully applied in modeling space shocks and can be used to experimentally model processes at the small bodies of the solar system. The cooling rates of the melted zone of the shocked octahedral sample was estimated for the crystallization range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model of atmospheric fragmentation of large meteoroids to the cloud of fragments is proposed. The comparison with similar models used in the literature is made. The approximate analytical solution of meteor physics equations is obtained for the mass loss of the disrupted meteoroid, the energy deposition and for the light curve normalized to the maximum brightness. This solution is applied to modelling of interaction of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid with the atmosphere. The influence of uncertainty of initial parameters of the meteoroid on characteristics of its interaction with the atmosphere is estimated. Comparison of the analytical solution with the observational data is made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]