Objective 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. Programme(s) IC-INTAS - International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), 1993- Topic(s) 68 - Energy Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique EU contribution No data Address Avenue du Colonel Roche 9 31029 Toulouse France See on map Total cost No data Participants (9) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Academy of Sciences of Georgia Georgia EU contribution No data Address 300060 Tbilisi See on map Total cost No data Institut d'Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique Belgium EU contribution No data Address 1180 Bruxelles See on map Total cost No data National Kiev Taras Shevchenko University Ukraine EU contribution No data Address 252022 Kiev See on map Total cost No data Russian Academy of Sciences Russia EU contribution No data Address 142092 Troitsk, Moscow Region See on map Total cost No data Russian Academy of Sciences Russia EU contribution No data Address 117810 Moscow See on map Total cost No data Space Research Institute Austria EU contribution No data Address 8010 Graz See on map Total cost No data St. Petersburg State University Russia EU contribution No data Address 198904 Petrodvorets - St. Petersburg See on map Total cost No data University College London United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Holmbury St Mary RH5 6NT Dorking See on map Total cost No data University of Sheffield United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Mappin Street S1 4DU Sheffield See on map Total cost No data
