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Experimental Ejecta Emplacement in Variable Gravity and Its Effects on Landscape Evolution

  • Authors: Kirby D. Runyon, Olivier S. Barnouin, Chloe B. Beddingfield, Daniel D. Durda, Viliam Klein, Carolyn M. Ernst, H. Todd Smith, Constantine C. Tsang

Kirby D. Runyon et al 2026 The Planetary Science Journal 7 .

  • Provider: AAS Journals

Caption: Figure 1.

(A) Overview of the science glovebox and ejecta catapult (mostly obscured) installed in Zero-G Corp.’s aircraft, G-Force One. Note the ejecta curtain, composed of white-colored crushed chalk, flying from left to right. Crushed chalk pieces of various colors from previous experiments are visible along the bottom of the clear-sided target tray and make up the regolith bed for the present experiment. The glovebox (dimensions 72 × 33 × 30 inches; 182.88 × 83.82 × 76.2 cm) features six gloved arm holes, GoPro cameras, and battery-operated LED lights affixed externally. The catapult system is intended to simulate an equivalent distance of a few crater radii from a hypothetical crater, especially around the continuous-to-discontinuous ejecta transition zone. The aircraft flew parabolic profiles to recreate approximate gravitational accelerations for the Moon and for Mars/Mercury (which have the same gravity). Modified from K. D. Runyon et al. (2025). (B) Schematic of the arrangement between the catapult, ejecta, and the imaginary crater, with the variable w illustrated. The catapult simulates some portion of the ejecta deposit within a few crater radii and especially around the continuous-to-discontinuous transition zone. Below the schematic is a mirror-flipped image of Concepcion Crater, Mars, to show a correspondence between the crater and ejecta. Modified from K. D. Runyon & O. S. Barnouin (2018), image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/color mosaic by James Canvin/The Planetary Society.

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