Hey #astronomy #space #rocketscience folks:

Is there a word to describe atmospheric aero-braking with the intent to disintegrate the object in question?

Like the theories about intentionally destroying ice asteroids in Mars' atmosphere for terraforming.

I feel like "aero-braking" has the connotation of wanting to keep the object in one piece.

Is there a term for intentional aero-disintegration?

@LouisIngenthron I’ve seen erosion used in the context of orbital debris, but I don’t know of any missions where something was disintegrated with the purpose of modify the atmosphere so you might need a whole new word or phrase.