When in 1981 Louis and Walter Alvarez, the father and son team, unearthed a tell-tale Iridium-rich sedimentary horizon at the 65 million years-old Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary at Gubbio, Italy, their find heralded a paradigm shift in the study of terrestrial evolution. Since the 1980s the discovery and study of asteroid impact ejecta in the oldest well-preserved terrains of Western Australia and South Africa, by Don Lowe, Gary Byerly, Bruce Simonson, Scott Hassler, the author and others, and the documentation of new exposed and buried impact structures in several continents, have led to a resurgence of the idea of the catastrophism theory of Cuvier, previously largely supplanted by the uniformitarian theory of Hutton and Lyell. Several mass extinction of species events are known to have occurred in temporal proximity to large asteroid impacts, global volcanic eruptions and continental splitting. Likely links are observed between asteroid clusters and the 580 Ma acritarch radiation, end-Devonian extinction, end-Triassic extinction and end-Jurassic extinction. New discoveries of 3.5 3.2 Ga-old impact fallout units in South Africa have led Don Lowe and Gary Byerly to propose a protracted prolongation of the Late Heavy Bombardment ( 3.95-3.85 Ga) in the Earth-Moon system. Given the difficulty in identifying asteroid impact ejecta units and buried impact structures, it is likely new discoveries of impact signatures are in store, which would further profoundly alter models of terrestrial evolution..

"Sky Alert! What Happens When Satellites Fail" explores for the first time what our modern world would be like if we were suddenly to lose most, if not all, of our space assets. The author demonstrates humankind's dependence on space satellites and show what might happen to various aspects of our economy, defense, and daily lives if they were suddenly destroyed. The book opens with a consideration of how our space assets might be lost in the first place: through orbital debris, war, and solar storms. The author then looks at what would happen if our satellites were lost, including the effect on weather forecasting, and the Global Positioning System, explaining GPS in detail and its importance to the military, including spy satellites and military reconnaissance, commerce, civilians, communications and remote sensing - both resource monitoring and locating and environmental monitoring and science. The effects of losing such assets as the International Space Station as well as such research satellites as the Hubble Space Telescope or the Chandra X-Ray Observatory are also considered. Part III of the book looks at how we can protect our satellites, preparing for the worst, reducing the growth and amount of orbital debris, preventing acts of war in space and hardening against space radiation. The book ends on an optimistic note: most spacefaring nations are now working together to develop new technologies to reduce the threat posed by orbital debris and in-space nuclear detonations and treaties exist to limit the development and use of weapons in space. Finally, it is hoped that it will not be long before we will be able to better predict and take precautions against solar storms. The global economy has now become so dependent upon satellites that their loss would be devastating - to the economy, to national security, and potentially, to the day-to-day survival of those who live in the world's most advanced economies.

On June 17, 1963, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. Curiously, unlike every previous milestone in the "space race," this event did not spur NASA to catch up by flying an American woman. Though there were suitable candidates-two years earlier, thirteen female pilots recruited by the private Woman in Space program had passed a strenuous physical exam and were ready for another stage of astronaut testing-American women would not escape earth's gravity for another twenty years. In Right Stuff, Wrong Sex, Margaret Weitekamp shows how the Woman in Space program-conceived by Dr. William Randolph Lovelace and funded by world-famous pilot and businesswoman Jacqueline Cochran-challenged prevailing attitudes about women's roles and capabilities. In examining the experiences of the Fellow Lady Astronaut Trainees (as the candidates called themselves), this book documents the achievements and frustrated hopes of a remarkable group of women whose desire to serve their country fell victim to hostility toward such aspirations. Drawing from archival research and interviews with participants, Weitekamp traces the rise and fall of the Woman in Space program within the context of the cold war and the thriving women's aviation culture of the 1950s. Weitekamp's study sheds light on a little-known but compelling chapter in the history of the U.S. space program and the rise of the women's movement in America.

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Recent space missions to the outer solar system, Galileo (1996-2003) and Cassini-Huygens (2004-today), together with ground observations, have revealed that the moons of the outer solar system are enigmatic objects, introducing extraordinary challenges for geologists, astrobiologists, organic chemists, and planetologists. Chemical exchange exists through the different layers that form their interiors, and also from the interior to the surface. The most convincing evidence is certainly the discovery of water vapour and ice particles emerging from Enceladus's active south polar region. Evidence for exchange with a subsurface liquid ocean has also been provided by the inference of hydrated salts on the surfaces of Jupiter's moons, Europa and Ganymede, as well as the detection of sodium salts in particles originating in Enceladus's plumes. Aqueous exchange with the rocky core may also be possible, considering that 40Ar has been observed in the plumes of Enceladus during one flyby of Cassini and in the atmosphere of Titan. The ongoing CH4 replenishment in Titan's atmosphere is additional striking evidence of exchange processes within the moons.

The first Asia-Pacific Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics took place from August 23 to August 28, 1999, at the Noda campus of the Sci ence University of Tokyo in Noda-city and Sawayaka Chiba Kenmin Plaza in Kashiwa-city, a suburb of Tokyo close to the Narita-Tokyo International Air port, with the Frontier Research Center for Computation Sciences (FRCCS) of the Science University of Tokyo as the host institute. The High Energy Accel erator Research Organization (KEK), the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP)-Osaka University, the Physical Society of Japan, and the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS) supported this conference. The conference was initiated in the Asia Pacific area as a counterpart to the successful European Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (APFB99), in addition to the International Few-Body Conference Series and the Few Body Gordon Conference series in North America. The Physics of Few-Body Problems covers, as is well known, systems with finite numbers of particles in contrast to many-body systems with very large numbers of particles. Therefore, it covers such wide fields as mesoscopic, atom-molecular, exotic atom, nucleon, hyperon, and quark-gluon physics, plus their applications."

The review articles collected in this volume present a critical assessment of particle acceleration mechanisms and observations from suprathermal particles in the magnetosphere and heliosphere to high-energy cosmic rays, thus covering a range of energies over seventeen orders of magnitude, from 103 eV to 1020 eV. The main themes are observations of accelerated populations from the magnetosphere to extragalactic scales and assessments of the physical processes underlying particle acceleration in different environments (magnetospheres, the solar atmosphere, the heliosphere, supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae and relativistic outflows). Several contributions review the status of shock acceleration in different environments and also the role of turbulence in particle acceleration. Observational results are compared with modelling in different parameter regimes. The book concludes with contributions on the status of particle acceleration research and its future perspectives. This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers active in astrophysics and space science. Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 173 Nos. 1-4, 2012.

This book provides an overview of key topics related to space business and management. Case studies and an integrative section are included to illustrate the fundamental concepts and to build intuition. Key topics in the field, such as risk management and cost management, are covered in detail.

The Space Shuttle has been the dominant machine in the U.S. space program for thirty years and has generated a great deal of interest among space enthusiasts and engineers. This book enables readers to understand its technical systems in greater depth than they have been able to do so before. The author describes the structures and systems of the Space Shuttle, and then follows a typical mission, explaining how the structures and systems were used in the launch, orbital operations and the return to Earth. Details of how anomalous events were dealt with on individual missions are also provided, as are the recollections of those who built and flew the Shuttle. Many photographs and technical drawings illustrate how the Space Shuttle functions, avoiding the use of complicated technical jargon. The book is divided into two sections: Part 1 describes each subsystem in a technical style, supported by diagrams, technical drawings, and photographs to enable a better understanding of the concepts. Part 2 examines different flight phases, from liftoff to landing. Technical material has been obtained from NASA as well as from other forums and specialists. Author Davide Sivolella is an aerospace engineer with a life-long interest in space and is ideally qualified to interpret technical manuals for a wider audience. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the topic including the evolution of given subsystems, reviewing the different configurations, and focusing on the solutions implemented.

The present book provides a contemporary systematic treatment of shock waves in high-temperature collisionless plasmas as are encountered in near Earth space and in Astrophysics. It consists of two parts. Part I develops the complete theory of shocks in dilute hot plasmas under the assumption of absence of collisions among the charged particles when the interaction is mediated solely by the self-consistent electromagnetic fields. Such shocks are naturally magnetised implying that the magnetic field plays an important role in their evolution and dynamics. This part treats subcritical shocks which dissipate flow energy by generating anomalous resistance or viscosity. The main emphasis is, however, on super-critical shocks where the anomalous dissipation is insufficient to retard the upstream flow. These shocks, depending on the direction of the upstream magnetic field, are distinguished as quasi-perpendicular and quasi-parallel shocks which exhibit different behaviours, reflecting particles back upstream and generating high electromagnetic wave intensities. Particle acceleration and turbulence at such shocks become possible and important. Part II treats planetary bow shocks and the famous Heliospheric Termination shock as examples of two applications of the theory developed in part I.

At the time of ?nalising this second volume of the ?Yearbook on Space Policy? which covers the period mid-2007 to mid-2008, Europe is as visible and strong in the area of space activities as never before. Its space probes are present on the Moon, around Mars, and on Saturn's Moon Titan, and are chasing asteroids and comets; Ariane V is the most successful commercial launch vehicle; and more and more European space applications satellites are in operation. Finally, with the successful launch of the Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) - the most prominent highlight of this period which is also depicted on the cover of this Yearbook - and the ?rst Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Europe has become a decisive player in human space?ight. This is accompanied by new policy initiatives on the ministerial level which have been bringing the European Space Agency and the European Union steadily closer. Europe's outstanding development and positioning in the space ?eld is based not only on Europe's successful engineering and scienti?c capabilities and capacities, but also on the forceful political determination of all European actors to maintain and even further their engagement in the use of outer space. And it is this political determination which provides the focus for this ?Yearbook on Space Policy?. The Yearbook describes and analyses the contexts and contents of space policy. Its primary ?eld of investigation is Europe, but it also covers the whole range of global space activities and their in?uence on European endeavours.

Dramatic progress is a trademark of the recent study of globular cluster systems. Considerations about the formation and evolution compose the first chapter, followed by a chapter on young star clusters. Then come four chapters reviewing the globular cluster system of early-type, late-type and dwarf galaxies, as well as of groups of galaxies. One chapter is dedicated to stellar population models and their applications to the field. Finally a chapter reviews the kinematics of galaxies derived from globular cluster systems and another their role in the context of galaxy formation and evolution studies. As a whole, the book gives an up-to-date view of the field at the beginning of the new decade, which will without doubt again bring significant progress in our understanding of globular cluster systems and galaxy formation and evolution.

The present sixth volume of ISSI Space Sciences Series is the outcome of the most ambitious study project of ISSI hitherto, that on 'Source and Loss Processes of Magnetospheric Plasma'. The goal has been to produce a fully integrated book on the subject, which gives an authoritative overview of all aspects of the topic in a well organized form, useful and readable both for active researchers in the field and for young scientists who are starting their research in space physics. In order to represent the full diversity of experience and perspective that exists in the science community, some 50 leading scientists from allover the world were invited to participate in the project and contribute to the text. With the scientific competence well in hand, the dominating problem in producing the book has been to achieve a degree of consistency in style, nomenclature, notations and format, as well as good cross referencing. To what degree we have succeeded in reaching our goal of delivering a volume that will be useful to the community in both its comprehensiveness and readability remains to be decided by the readers. The book is the outcome of a three year long process. In December 1995 the study project on 'Source and Loss Processes of Magnetospheric Plasma' was se lected by ISSI after consultations with several groups of senior representatives of the space physics community."

The Mars Science Laboratory is the latest and most advanced NASA roving vehicle to explore the surface of Mars. The Curiosity rover has landed in Gale crater and will explore this region assessing conditions on the surface that might be hospitable to life and paving the way for later even more sophisticated exploration of the surface. This book describes the mission, its exploration and scientific objectives, studies leading to the design of the mission and the instruments that accomplish the objectives of the mission. This book is aimed at all those engaged in Martian studies as well as those interested in the origin of life in other environments. It will be a valuable reference for anyone who uses data from the Mars Science Laboratory. Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 170/1-4, 2012.

As we stand poised on the verge of a new era of spaceflight, we must rethink every element, including the human dimension. This book explores some of the contributions of psychology to yesterday's great space race, today's orbiter and International Space Station missions, and tomorrow's journeys beyond Earth's orbit. Early missions into space were typically brief, and crews were small, often drawn from a single nation. As international cooperation in space exploration has increased over the decades, the challenges of communicating across cultural boundaries and dealing with interpersonal conflicts have become all the more important, requiring different coping skills and sensibilities than "the right stuff" expected of early astronauts. As astronauts travel to asteroids or establish a permanent colony on the Moon, with the eventual goal of reaching Mars, the duration of expeditions will increase markedly, as will the psychosocial stresses. Away from their home planet for extended times, future spacefarers will need to be increasingly self-sufficient, while simultaneously dealing with the complexities of heterogeneous, multicultural crews. "On Orbit and Beyond: Psychological Perspectives on Human Spaceflight," the second, considerably expanded edition of "Psychology of Space Exploration: Contemporary Research in Historical Perspective," provides an analysis of these and other challenges facing future space explorers while at the same time presenting new empirical research on topics ranging from simulation studies of commercial spaceflights to the psychological benefits of viewing Earth from space. This second edition includes an all new section exploring the challenges astronauts will encounter as they travel to asteroids, Mars, Saturn, and the stars, requiring an unprecedented level of autonomy. Updated essays discuss the increasingly important role of China in human spaceflight. In addition to examining contemporary psychological research, several of the essays also explicitly address the history of the psychology of space exploration. Leading contributors to the field place the latest theories and empirical findings in historical context by exploring changes in space missions over the past half century, as well as reviewing developments in the psychological sciences during the same period. The essays are innovative in their approaches and conclusions, providing novel insights for behavioral researchers and historians alike.

With the success of Cherenkov Astronomy and more recently with the launch of NASA's Fermi mission, very-high-energy astrophysics has undergone a revolution in the last years. This book provides three comprehensive and up-to-date reviews of the recent advances in gamma-ray astrophysics and of multi-messenger astronomy. Felix Aharonian and Charles Dermer address our current knowledge on the sources of GeV and TeV photons, gleaned from the precise measurements made by the new instrumentation. Lars Bergstroem presents the challenges and prospects of astro-particle physics with a particular emphasis on the detection of dark matter candidates. The topics covered by the 40th Saas-Fee Course present the capabilities of current instrumentation and the physics at play in sources of very-high-energy radiation to students and researchers alike. This book will encourage and prepare readers for using space and ground-based gamma-ray observatories, as well as neutrino and other multi-messenger detectors.

Chaos theory plays an important role in modern physics and related sciences, but -, the most important results so far have been obtained in the study of gravitational systems applied to celestial mechanics. The present set of lectures introduces the mathematical methods used in the theory of singularities in gravitational systems, reviews modeling techniques for the simulation of close encounters and presents the state of the art about the study of diffusion of comets, wandering asteroids, meteors and planetary ring particles. The book will be of use to researchers and graduate students alike.

The geomagnetic field observed on the surface of the earth has been an important source of information on the dynamic behavior of the magnetosphere. Because the. magnetosphere and its environment are filled with plasma in which electric current can easily flow, dynamic processes that occur in the magnetosphere tend to produce perturba tions in the geomagnetic field. Geomagnetic data have therefore pro vided valuable means for sensing the processes taking place at remote locations, and such basic concepts as the magnetosphere, solar wind, and trapped radiation were derived in early, presatellite days from geomagnetic analyses. Because of this advantage, geomagnetic observations have been widely utilized for monitoring the overall condition of the magneto sphere. Although the advent of space vehides has made it possible to observe magnetospheric processes in situ, supplementary information on the overall magnetospheric condition is frequently found to be indispensable for interpreting these observations in the proper perspec tive. Hence for magnetospheric physicists involved in various branches of the field it has become a common practice to employ geomagnetic data as a basic diagnostic tool."

The inner magnetosphere plasma is a very unique composition of different plasma particles and waves. It covers a huge energy plasma range with spatial and time variations of many orders of magnitude. In such a situation, the kinetic approach is the key element, and the starting point of the theoretical description of this plasma phenomena which requires a dedicated book to this particular area of research.

IAU Transactions are published as a volume corresponding to each General Assembly.

Volume A is produced prior to the Assembly and contains Reports on Astronomy, prepared by each Commission President. The intention is to summarize the astronomical results that have affected the work of the Commission since the production of the previous Reports up to a time which is about one year prior to the General Assembly.

Volume B is produced after the Assembly and contains accounts of Commission Meetings which were held, together with other material. The reports included in the present volume range from outline summaries to lengthy compilations and references.

The authors, leading representatives of Russian space research and industry, show the results and future prospects of astronautics at the start of the third millennium. The focus is on the development of astronautics in Russia in the new historical and economic conditions. The text spotlights the basic trends in space related issues before moving on to describe the possibilities of the wide use of space technologies and its numerous applications such as navigation and communication, space manufacturing, and space biotechnology. The book contains a large amount of facts described in a way understandable without specialist knowledge. The text is accompanied by many photographs, charts and diagrams, mostly in color.

This is an extended version of lectures that were held at the summer workshop Atmosphiirische Umweltforschung im Spannungsfeld zwischen Technik und Natur (At mospheric Environmental Research between Technology and Nature) at the Techni 16, 1996. We were very happy to have Paul J. Crutzen, cal University in Cottbus on July winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1995, presenting the key lecture on glo bally changing chemistry in the atmosphere. Over the last decades, atmospheric chem istry has been established step by step, not just as an applied discipline of chemistry, but also as a key discipline for our understanding of air pollution, biogeochemical cycling, and climactic processes as well. In fact, the new definition of meteorology as the science of physics and chemistry of the atmosphere expresses this development very well. The chemistry of the atmosphere is strongly influenced by anthropogenic emissions, even on a global scale. As a result of emissions and chemical reactions, the chemical composition of the atmosphere influences the ecosystems directly via depo sition of trace substances, and indirectly by changing the physical climate. Therefore, in this book we combined state-of-the-art lectures describing the physical and chemi cal status of the atmosphere and selected issues representing the interface between atmosphere, technology and nature. Oxidising capacity, heterogeneous processes and acidity still remain as key issues in atmospheric chemistry, even in regions where efficient air control measures have been adopted resulting in reduction of primary atmospheric pollutants."

Mohamed Larbi Selassi Deputy Director of the National Meteorology, Morocco Welcome address (translated from French) WMO, WCRP, Medias-France and scientific institutions representatives, ladies and gentlemen, to thank WMO and MEDIAS-France, who have honoured us by I want first organizing the two workshops, climate indices in Africa and data assessment for global change research in the Mediterranean region, in Casablanca and I welcome all of you here in Morocco. It is with great pleasure that I open these two workshops on behalf of myself and on behalf of the Direction of the Meteorologie N ationale of Morocco. Climate change is becoming the focus of the international community because of its global scale and unpredictable effects, the numerous impacts it causes, its global feature and the complexity of the solutions that can mitigate its impacts. Global warming and the greenhouse effect became a subject of study at the international level since the United Nations Conference on the human environment that was held in Stockholm in 1972. The research and coordination efforts that have been made in this area have led to an "International Scientific consensus". High level meetings like those held in Toronto in 1988, in Lahaye in 1989 and in Geneva in 1990, did confirm the greenhouse threat and the emergency to treat it.

This book describes the relationship between the atmosphere and the external plasma of Earth in an unconventional manner. While the main mechanical energy is located in the dense atmosphere, the presence of Earth's plasma environment, which is immersed in the magnetosphere, causes a number of very interesting effects on the atmosphere. A list of such effects includes magnetic substorms, magnetic storms and aurora to the dynamics of the upper atmosphere, heating, thermal expansion, and vertical and horizontal winds. Particle precipitation produces excess ionization and electric currents, causes electric fields, affects recombination and modifies chemical reactions. These are processes which may become important in the climate. The collected articles provide an overview of these effects. This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers active in the areas of atmospheric science and space science. Previously published in Space Science Reviews, Vol. 168/1-4, 2012.