Ziel
The discipline of space physics research was born several decades ago with the launch of the first Earth-orbiting satellites such as Sputnik and Explorer 1. Such spacecraft provided in situ measurements of ionised particles and fields within the outermost portion of the terrestrial atmosphere, which is now called the magnetosphere. The international space research community stands poised on the threshold of an exciting epoch in which measurements of unprecedented breadth and depth will be available at many points throughout the magnetospheric system. The INTERBALL (Russia), CLUSTER (ESA), WlND and POLAR (USA), and GEOTAlL (Japan) spacecraft have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the coupled solar wind-magnetosphere-ionosphere system. This potential strength has been clearly perceived by the international community and joint research programmes are advocated.
This project will concentrate on the study of collisionless energy transformation and plasma transport inside the Earth's magnetosphere. Particular attention will be given to thin boundaries between different plasma regimes where energy conversion is known to occur. The plasma universe has a cellular cell, and broad regions where fluid-like plasma theory applies are separated by boundaries where fluid theory fails and where full kinetic description is required. These laminar regions control the structure, equilibrium and dynamics of the vast plasma reservoirs of our environment.
The project will begin with the statistical data analysis of the previous PROGNOZ-8, 10 satellites and with a detailed study of the data of the forthcoming INTERBALL tail probes. These data will be supplemented by those simultaneously taken in the solar wind (WIND, IMP-8), in the upper ionosphere (INTERBALL auroral probes) and on the ground. This effort will be closely followed by theoretical and numerical simulations. Detailed comparisons with the ESA/CLUSTER data will be achieved in order to supplement them by short distance (1-10 km) explorations made in situ by the two INTERBALL tail probes.
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Aufforderung zur Vorschlagseinreichung
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31029 Toulouse
Frankreich