AstroGrav Help /Sample Simulations /Abstract Systems /Disrupting Rubble PileVersion 5.1

Disrupting Rubble Pile

This simulation shows a rubble pile that has been set rotating fast enough that some objects are flung off into the surrounding space. It was created using the following instructions:

Create a new simulation
Edit the single object to make it a small asteroid with a luminosity of 1,000 W, a mass of 1.0e11 kg, and a radius of 220 m
Use the Edit / Split Object... command to change the single object into a 3D rubble pile with 400 components and rotation period of 0.25 days

You can run the simulation to see how the initial rubble pile quickly loses objects, most of which end up in elliptical orbits, but some of which end up in hyperbolic orbits. Since different computers run at different speeds, you may need to edit the evolution time step to get the simulation to run at an acceptable rate.