A single hole in the ground can act like an engine that gets hot enough to physically spin an entire asteroid through space.
April 13, 2026
Original Paper
Positive YORP effect induced by lateral heat conduction in a crater
arXiv · 2604.08699
The Takeaway
Researchers found that the way heat moves inside an asteroid's crater creates a tiny but constant push. Over time, this "crater power" is strong enough to change how fast a giant space rock rotates.
From the abstract
The YORP effect plays an important role in the spin evolution of asteroids. Although craters are ubiquitous surface features, their influence on YORP torque has received limited attention. In this paper, we investigate the YORP torque of a circular crater on a spherical asteroid, focusing specifically on how lateral thermal conduction breaks symmetry to produce a net torque. Using three-dimensional finite element simulations, we calculate the resulting spin and obliquity accelerations and examin