Understanding how the Sun changes though its 11-year sunspot cycle and how these changes affect the vast space around the Sun the heliosphere has been one of the principal objectives of space research since the advent of the space age. This book presents the evolution of the heliosphere through an entire solar activity cycle. The last solar cycle (cycle 23) has been the best observed from both the Earth and from a fleet of spacecraft. Of these, the joint ESA-NASA Ulysses probe has provided continuous observations of the state of the heliosphere since 1990 from a unique vantage point, that of a nearly polar orbit around the Sun. Ulysses results affect our understanding of the heliosphere from the interior of the Sun to the interstellar medium - beyond the outer boundary of the heliosphere. Written by scientists closely associated with the Ulysses mission, the book describes and explains the many different aspects of changes in the heliosphere in response to solar activity. In particular, the authors describe the rise in solar activity from the last minimum in solar activity in 1996 to its maximum in 2000 and the subsequent decline in activity."

This is the first collection of review articles in one volume covering the very latest developments in exoplanet research. This edited, multi-author volume will be an invaluable introduction and reference to all key aspects in the field this field. The reviews cover topics such as the properties of known exoplanets and searching for exoplanets in the stellar graveyard. The book provides an easily accessible point of reference in a fast moving and exciting field.

The problem of cosmic ray (CR) geomagnetic effects came to the fore at the beg- ning of the 1930s after the famous expeditions by J. Clay onboard ship (Slamat) between the Netherlands and Java using an ionization chamber. Many CR la- tude expeditions were organized by the famous scientists and Nobel Laureates R. Millikan and A. Compton. From the obtained latitude curves it follows that CRs cannot be gamma rays (as many scientists thought at that time), but must be charged particles. From measurements of azimuthally geomagnetic effect at that time it also followed that these charged particles must be mostly positive (see Chapter 1, and for more details on the history of the problem see monographs of Irina Dorman, M1981, M1989). The ?rst explanations of obtained results were based on the simple dipole - proximation of the geomagnetic ?eld and the theory of energetic charged particles moving in dipole magnetic ?elds, developed in 1907 by C. Stormer ] to explain the aurora phenomenon. Let us note that it was made about 5 years before V. Hess discovered CRs, and received the Nobel Prize in 1936 together with K. Anderson (for the discovery of CR and positrons in CR)."

"Soviet Robots in the Solar System"provides a history of the Soviet robotic lunar and planetary exploration program from its inception, with the attempted launch of a lunar impactor on September 23, 1958, to the last launch in the Russian national scientific space program in the 20th Century, Mars 96, on November 16, 1996. This title makes a unique contribution to understanding the scientific and engineering accomplishments of the Soviet Union s robotic space exploration enterprise from its infancy to its demise with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Theauthors provide a comprehensive account of Soviet robotic exploration of the Solar System for both popular space enthusiasts and professionals in the field. Technical details and science results are provided and put into an historical and political perspective in a single volume for the first time. The book is divided into two parts. Part I describes the key players and the key institutions that build and operate the hardware, the rockets that provide access to space, and the spacecraft that carry out the enterprise. Part II is about putting these pieces together to enable space flight and mission campaigns. Part II is written in chronological order beginning with the first launches to the Moon. Each chapter covers a particular period when specific mission campaigns were undertaken during celestially-determined launch windows. Each chapter begins with a short overview of the flight missions that occurred during the time period and the political and historical context for the flight mission campaigns, including what the Americans were doing at the time. The bulk of each chapter is devoted to the scientific and engineering details of that flight campaign. The spacecraft and payloads are examined with as much technical detail as is available today, the progress is described, and a synopsis of the scientific result is given.

The 6th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, initiated by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), was again hosted by DLR, the German Aerospace Center. The participation of scientists, engineers, and managers from 24 countries reflected the high interest in the use of small satellites for dedicated missions applied to Earth observation. The contributions showed that dedicated Earth observation missions cover a wide range of very different tasks.

Following the first comprehensive transdisciplinary dialogue on humans in outer space which resulted in "Humans in Outer Space - Interdisciplinary Odysseys", the European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) have continued and deepened this transdisciplinary dialogue, which can now be found in Humans in Outer Space - Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Going further than regarding humans as better-than-robot tools for exploration, it investigates the human quest for odysseys beyond Earth's atmosphere and reflects on arising issues related to Europe's role among the States conducting human exploration. It provides perspectives related to governance, management of space exploration, space settlements, the role of astronauts in the future as well as related to the encounter of extraterrestrial life.

As a star in the universe, the Sun is constantly releas- cover a wide range of time and spatial scales, making ?? ing energy into space, as much as ?. ? ?? erg/s. Tis observations in the solar-terrestrial environment c- energy emission basically consists of three modes. Te plicated and the understanding of processes di?cult. ?rst mode of solar energy is the so-called blackbody ra- In the early days, the phenomena in each plasma diation, commonly known as sunlight, and the second region were studied separately, but with the progress mode of solar electromagnetic emission, such as X rays of research, we realized the importance of treating and UV radiation, is mostly absorbed above the Earth's the whole chain of processes as an entity because of stratosphere. Te third mode of solar energy emission is strong interactions between various regions within in the form of particles having a wide range of energies the solar-terrestrial system. On the basis of extensive from less than ? keV to more than ? GeV. It is convenient satellite observations and computer simulations over to group these particles into lower-energy particles and thepasttwo decades, it hasbecomepossibleto analyze higher-energy particles, which are referred to as the so- speci?cally the close coupling of di?erent regions in the lar wind and solar cosmic rays, respectively. solar-terrestrial environment.

About 1200 human space flights have been completed to date, including more than 500 astronauts from various countries, for a combined total presence in space of about 90 years. The 21st expedition crew is currently in residence aboard the International Space Station, continuing a permanent presence in space that began in 2000. During that time, investigations have been conducted on both humans and animal models to study bone demineralization, muscle de-conditioning, space motion sickness, changes in immune function, crew and crew-ground interactions, post flight orthostatic intolerance, and the medical issues of living in a space environment, such as the effects of radiation and the risk of developing kidney stones. Results of these investigations have led to fundamental discoveries about the adaptation of the human body to the space environment. Gilles Cl ment has been active in this research. This book presents in a readable text the findings from life science experiments conducted during and after space missions. "Fundamentals of Space Medicine, 2nd Edition" looks at the future of human space flight and what comes next. For the next ten years, the ISS will be a fully operational material and life science laboratory with a permanent crew of six astronauts. A new spacecraft named Orion will soon replace the Space Shuttle for transporting humans to the ISS and later to the Moon and Mars. However, many physiological, psychological, operational, and scientific issues need to be solved before establishing manned Moon and Mars bases. Finally, the emerging commercial sub-orbital flight capability captures the imagination of both the public and the scientific community. This book also identifies the showstoppers that are foreseen for all these space missions, and what do we need to learn to understand fully the implications and risks for space explorers and space tourists.

The last two years have witnessed a continuation in the breakthrough shift toward pulse tube cryocoolers for long-life, high-reliability cryocooler applications. New this year are papers de scribing the development of very large pulse tube cryocoolers to provide up to 1500 watts of cooling for industrial applications such as cooling the superconducting magnets of Mag-lev trains, coolmg superconducting cables for the power mdustry, and liquefymg natural gas. Pulse tube coolers can be driven by several competing compressor technologies. One class of pulse tube coolers is referred to as "Stirling type" because they are based on the linear Oxford Stirling-cooler type compressor; these generally provide coolmg m the 30 to 100 K temperature range and operate ^t frequencies from 30 to 60 Hz. A second type of pulse tube cooler is the so-called "Gifford-McMahon type. " Pulse tube coolers of this type use a G-M type compressor and lower frequency operation (~1 Hz) to achieve temperatures in the 2 to 10 K temperature range. The third type of pulse tube cooler is driven by a thermoacoustic oscillator, a heat engine that functions well in remote environments where electricity is not readily available. All three types are described, and in total, nearly half of this proceedings covers new developments in the pulse tube arena. Complementing the work on low-temperature pulse tube and Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers is substantial continued progress on rare earth regenerator materials.

Josep M. Trigo-Rodriguez Ae Frans J. M. Rietmeijer Ae Jordi Llorca Ae Diego Janches Originally published in the journal Earth, Moon, and Planets, Volume 102, Nos 1-4. DOI: 10. 1007/s11038-008-9228-0 Springer Science+Business Media B. V. 2008 This volume is a compilation of articles that summarize the most recent results in meteor, meteoroid and related ?elds presented at the Meteoroids 2007 conference held in the impressive CosmoCaixa Science Museum in Barcelona, Spain. The conference took place between 11 and 15 of June and was organized by the Institute of Space Sciences (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient?'?cas, CSIC) and the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC). Researchers in meteor science and supporting ?elds representing more than 20 countries participated at this international conference where 126 presentations were delivered in oral and poster forms. The 69 papers included in this volume represent the work of 154 authors from about 70 different institutions across the globe. The Me- oroids conference is an international meeting that takes place every 3 years since the ?rst one held in Bratislava, Slovakia in 1994. The 2007 meeting was the ?rst one where samples of a comet, 81P/Wild 2, were available from the NASA Stardust mission, and results from laboratory characterizations were presented and discussed. Seemingly aware of the upcoming meeting a bolide was observed over La Mancha, Spain, on May 10.

This interdisciplinary book probes the subject of extraterrestrial intelligent life, offering scientific and technological implications, discussing the philosophical and religious connotations and rebuffing pseudo-scientific assertions such as 'rare earth'. The author discusses such philosophical questions as: What is intelligence? What is consciousness? Should we expect ETIs to be conscious beings? Also discussed is the viability of future astronautics which would enable closer human contact with ETI.

New and more accurate techniques for satellite gravimetry will be available soon, with promising applications in Earth sciences. With this special issue the authors want to stimulate discussion among Earth scientists on objectives and preferences for future satellite gravimetry missions. This is an urgently needed discussion. Visions for follow-on missions have to be developed today, if they are to be realized within 10 years, given the required preparation time of such satellite missions.

If charged particles move through the interplanetary or interstellar medium, they interact with a large-scale magnetic ?eld such as the magnetic ?eld of the Sun or the Galactic magnetic ?eld. As these background ?elds are usually nearly constant in time and space, they can be approximated by a homogeneous ?eld. If there are no additional ?elds, the particle trajectory is a perfect helix along which the par- cle moves at a constant speed. In reality, however, there are turbulent electric and magnetic?elds dueto the interstellaror solar wind plasma. These ?elds lead to sc- tering of the cosmic rays parallel and perpendicular to the background ?eld. These scattering effects, which usually are of diffusive nature, can be described by s- tial diffusion coef?cients or, alternatively, by mean free paths. The knowledge of these parameters is essential for describing cosmic ray propagation as well as d- fusive shock acceleration. The latter process is responsible for the high cosmic ray energies that have been observed. The layout of this book is as follows. In Chap. 1, the general physical scenario is presented. We discuss fundamental processes such as cosmic ray propagation and acceleration in different systems such as the solar system or the interst- lar space. These processes are a consequence of the interaction between charged cosmic particles and an astrophysical plasma (turbulence). The properties of such plasmas are therefore the subject of Chap. 2.

Over the years, many leading European graduate schools in the field of astrophysical and space plasmas have operated within the framework of the research network, "Theory, Observations, and Simulations in Turbulence in Space Plasmas." This text is a set of lectures and tutorial reviews culled from the relevant work of all those schools. It emphasizes applications on solar coronae, solar flares, and the solar wind.

In bridging the gap between standard textbook material and state-of-the-art research, this text offers a broad flavor to postgraduate and postdoctoral students just coming to the field. And because of its unique mix, it will also be useful to lecturers looking for advanced teaching material for their seminars and courses.

The Sun and stars rotate in di?erent ways and at di?erent velocity rates. The knowledge of how they rotate is important in understanding the formation and evolution of stars and their structure. The closest star to our Earth, the Sun, is a good laboratory to study in detail the rotation of a G star and allows to test new ideas and develop new techniques to study stellar rotation. More or less massive, more or lessevolved objects, however, can have averydi?erent rotation rate, structure and history. In recent years our understanding of the rotation of the Sun has greatly improved. The Sun has a well-known large-scale rotation, which can be m- sured thanks to visible features across the solar disk, such as sunspots, or via spectroscopy. In addition, several studies cast light on di?erential rotation in the convective zone and on meridional circulation in the radiative zone of the Sun. Even the rotation of the core of the Sun can now be studied thanks to various methods, such as dynamics of the gravitational moments and of course, helioseismology, through g-modes analysis. Moreover, the magnetic ?eld is strongly linked to the matter motions in the solar plasma. The solar magnetic ?eld can be measured only at the surface or in theupperlayers.Itistheproductoftheinternaldynamoorofthelocaldynamos if they exist - in any case magnetic ?eld and rotation cannot thus be separated.

This book examines the origins, development and fate of intelligent species in the observable part of our universe. It scrutinizes what kind of information about extraterrestrial intelligent life can be inferred from our own biological, cultural and scientific evolution and the likely future of mankind. There is emphasis on the geological conditions and consequences of life's conquest of land as the pre-condition for the emergence of life with our type of technical intelligence.

Plasma Physics: Confinement, Transport and Collective Effects provides an overview of modern plasma research with special focus on confinement and related issues. Beginning with a broad introduction, the book leads graduate students and researchers - also those from related fields - to an understanding of the state-of-the-art in modern plasma physics. Furthermore, it presents a methodological cross section ranging from plasma applications and plasma diagnostics to numerical simulations, the latter providing an increasingly important link between theory and experiment. Effective references guide the reader from introductory texts through to contemporary research. Some related exercises in computational plasma physics are supplied on a special web site

The Space Age is nearly 50 years old but exploration of the outer planets and beyond has only just begun. Deep-Space Probes Second Edition draws on the latest research to explain why we should explore beyond the edge of the Solar System and how we can build highly sophisticated robot spacecraft to make the journey. Many technical problems remain to be solved, among them propulsion systems to permit far higher velocities, and technologies to build vehicles a fraction of the size of today 's spacecraft.

Beyond the range of effective radio control, robot vehicles for exploring deep space will need to be intelligent, thinking craft able to make vital decisions entirely on their own. Gregory Matloff also looks at the possibility for human travel into interstellar space, and some of the immense problems that such journeys would entail.

This second edition includes an entirely new chapter on holographic message plaques for future interstellar probes a NASA-funded project.

Developments in three-dimensional cloud radiation over the past few decades are assessed and distilled into this contributed volume. Chapters are authored by subject-matter experts who address a broad audience of graduate students, researchers, and anyone interested in cloud-radiation processes in the solar and infrared spectral regions. After two introductory chapters and a section on the fundamental physics and computational techniques, the volume extensively treats two main application areas: the impact of clouds on the Earth's radiation budget, which is an essential aspect of climate modeling; and remote observation of clouds, especially with the advanced sensors on current and future satellite missions.

Authored by leading international researchers, this monograph introduces and reviews developed tomograhic methods for discovering 2D and 3D structures of the ionosphere, and discusses the experimental implementation of these methods. The detailed derivations and explanations make this book an excellent starting point for non-specialists.

This book contains review articles of most of the topics addressed at the conf- ence on Simulations of Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in astrophysics: recent achievements and perspectives which took place from July 2 to 6, 2001 at the Institut Henri Poincare in Paris. We made the choice to publish these lectures in a tutorial form so that they can be read by a broad audience. As a result, this book does not give an exhaustive view of all the subjects addressed during the conference. The main objective of this workshop which gathered about 90 scientists from di?erent ?elds, was to present and confront recent results on the topic of t- bulence in magnetized astrophysical environments. A second objective was to discuss the latest generation of numerical codes, such as those using adaptive mesh re?nement (AMR) techniques. During a plenary discussion at the end of the workshop discussions were held on several topics, often at the heart of vivid controversies. Topics included the timescale for the dissipation of magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence, the role of boundary conditions, the characteristics of imbalanced turbulence, the validity of the polytropic approach to Alfven waves support within interst- lar clouds, the source of turbulence inside clouds devoid of stellar activity, the timescale for star formation, the Alfven Mach number of interstellar gas motions, the formation process for helical ?elds in the interstellar medium. The impact of small upon large scales was also discussed."

In this third corrected and revised edition students and lecturers in astronomy and planetary science as well as planet observers will find a mine of up-to-date information on the solar system and its interaction with the interplanetary medium, its various objects, comparative planetology, discussion of questions for further research and future space exploration.

This is the first comprehensive review of intra-seasonal variability (ISV); the contents are balanced between observation, theory and modeling. Starting with an overview of ISV and historical observations, the book addresses the coupling between ocean and atmosphere, and the worldwide role of ISV in monsoon variability. Also considered are the connections between oscillations like the Madden, Julian and El Nino/Southern and short-term climate.

This book presents comprehensive coverage of the Sun and space weather, two rapidly evolving topics. In this new edition, the information has been updated to include the latest results. In addition, new sections are included, like one on space weather data sources, as well as examples and information on new satellite missions.

An International Conference entitled "Close Binaries in the 21st Century: New Opportunities and Challenges," was held in Syros island, Greece, from 27 to 30 June, 2005.

There are many binary star systems whose components are so close together, that they interact in various ways. Stars in such systems do not pass through all stages of their evolution independently of each other; in fact their evolutionary path is significantly affected by their companions. Processes of interaction include gravitational effects, mutual irradiation, mass exchange, mass loss from the system, phenomena of extended atmospheres, semi-transparent atmospheric clouds, variable thickness disks and gas streams.

The zoo of Close Binary Systems includes: Close Eclipsing Binaries (Detached, Semi-detached, Contact), High and Low-Mass X-ray Binaries, Cataclysmic Variables, RS CVn systems, Pulsar Binaries and Symbiotic Stars. The study of these binaries triggered the development of new branches of astrophysics dealing with the structure and evolution of close binaries and the interaction effects displayed by these exciting objects. Close Binaries are classic examples of the fundamental contribution that stellar astrophysics makes to our general understanding of physical processes in the universe.

Ground-based and space surveys will discover many new close binaries, which were previously unknown. In the future, new approaches will also be possible with highly efficient photometric searches looking for very shallow eclipses, such as those produced by Earth-like extra-solar planets.

Contributions to this conference covered the latest achievements in the field and reflected the state of the art of the dynamically evolving area of binary star research.