  In September 2011, the Herschel Space Observatory performed an observation
campaign with the PACS photometer observing the asteroid (101955) 1999 RQ36 in
the far infrared. The Herschel observations were analysed, together with ESO
VLT-VISIR and Spitzer-IRS data, by means of a thermophysical model in order to
derive the physical properties of 1999 RQ36. We find the asteroid has an
effective diameter in the range 480 to 511 m, a slightly elongated shape with a
semi-major axis ratio of a/b=1.04, a geometric albedo of 0.045 +0.015/-0.012,
and a retrograde rotation with a spin vector between -70 and -90 deg ecliptic
latitude. The thermal emission at wavelengths below 12 micron -originating in
the hot sub-solar region- shows that there may be large variations in roughness
on the surface along the equatorial zone of 1999 RQ36, but further measurements
are required for final proof. We determine that the asteroid has a
disk-averaged thermal inertia of Gamma = 650 Jm-2s-0.5K-1 with a 3-sigma
confidence range of 350 to 950 Jm-2s-0.5K-1, equivalent to what is observed for
25143 Itokawa and suggestive that 1999 RQ36 has a similar surface texture and
may also be a rubble-pile in nature. The low albedo indicates that 1999 RQ36
very likely contains primitive volatile-rich material, consistent with its
spectral type, and that it is an ideal target for the OSIRIS-REx sample return
mission.
