Space2000

Announcing a Special Issue of the TRANSACTIONS on Space Weather as a prime application of space plasma physics

The aurora borealis as detected by an imaging instrument on the Dynamics Explorer Satellite.

No movie? Download a free copy of ShockWave for Navigator/Communicator or Internet Explorer.

FINISHED MANUSCRIPTS, INCLUDING ALL GRAPHICS, SHOULD BE IN THE HANDS OF THE GUEST EDITORS BY JANUARY 2000

THE IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE FIFTH SPECIAL ISSUE ON SPACE PLASMAS.

The Earth's space is an important plasma environment. The condition of the plasma environment varies, like the daily weather which we experience on the surface of the Earth. It has been realized in recent years that the Earth's space plasma condition is very much controlled by the Sun.

The Sun ejects plasmas continuously, and occasionally they are significant in amount and energy. The Solar plasmas arriving at the Earth's space may energize and disturb the Earth's space plasma and cause geomagnetic storms and substorms. Space plasmas may adversely interact with space craft and affect electromagnetic wave communications and even power systems.

Spacecraft anomalies occur more likely during Solar maxima and after days of Solar coronal mass ejection cloud passages. In recent years, the sudden failures of geosynchronous communication satellites, such as ANIK-1, AT&T Telstar, and Motorola Galaxy-4, caused loss of communication services to millions of customers.

Microelectronics are becoming smaller, run on less current, and are more susceptible to smaller disturbing currents. In view of the upcoming Solar maximum in a few years and the projected rapid increase in the number of spacecraft deployed in the next century, the space plasma community, including NASA, have already begun to realize the importance of spacecraft plasma interaction.

It is important not only to try to understand the basic science for space plasmas, but also to enable eventually the end users, such as spacecraft designers and space electronics engineers, to cope with the problems ahead. For this reason, we envision a Special Issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE whose core topic is Space Weather, as timely and useful. This is a journal of choice because it serves the purpose of bridging the gap between basic plasma science, plasma applications, and plasma engineering.

Tutorial, review, and research papers on space plasmas with emphasis on space weather, spacecraft-plasma interactions, effects of space plasma on scientific measurements, adverse effects of energetic space plasma on electronics, mitigation techniques, and related topics are invited.

Papers are sought on all aspects of the above subjects. Due to the scarcity of textbooks on these topics, introductory, pedagogical, and survey papers are highly encouraged. Research papers on data observations, data interpretations, modeling, theories, and computer simulations are of central importance. Papers on engineering aspects, experimental designs, instrumentation for space experiments, and measurement techniques for space plasmas and space particle radiation are most welcome, as are papers linked to topics presented in the first four special issues on astrophysical dimensioned plasmas, electric space, and the plasma universe.