An N-body simulation with damped springs between mass nodes is a low computational complexity simulation technique for a viscoelastic material that can measure extremely small deformations and accurately conserves angular momentum. We can directly simulate tidal evolution, directly connecting internal material properties to spin evolution.
Moreover the simulations can more easily be extended to model non-spherical and inhomogeneous bodies than conventional analytical techniques. Our recent numerical explorations include study of the tidal spin down of triaxial bodies, the discovery of a spin resonance that might account for the high obliquities of Pluto and Charon’s satellites, measurement of near/far side asymmetry in the distribution of tidally generated heat in the young Moon, and a high rate of orbital eccentricity damping during an epoch when Phobos probably tumbled.
