The aim of this book is to introduce scientific ballooning to the many people who are interested in the use of balloons for scientific applications. The book offers a basic understanding of the engineering details and the scientific research giving rise to balloon activities going on today. Above all, the book will serve as a guidebook for young scientists and researchers seeking to become involved in space science and technology by participating in balloon projects. The book deals with three types of balloons: large stratospheric balloons used for scientific purposes, rubber balloons used for aerological observations, and planetary balloons to be used in the atmospheres of other planets. The book provides many figures and photographs, and offers a systematic description of balloon technologies and related matters from historical background to current research topics. The contents include a theoretical discussion of ballon shape design, analysis and synthesis of flight dynamics, actual launching procedure, flight operations, and typical applications of ballooning in various scientific fields. Detailed meteorological descriptions, especially of the Earth's stratosphere and the atmosphere of other planets, are provided for investigating actual flight behavior.

Solar Physics publishes up to two Topical Issues per year that focus on areas of especially vigorous and active research. The present Topical Issue contains papers of recent results on the solar corona, as well as on the transition region and low solar wind. The majority of these papers, which were all refereed in accordance with the standards of Solar Physics, were presented in August 1999 at a workshop held in Monterey, California. The authors were offered the opportunity to present relevant parts of their contributions on an accompanying CD ROM of this Topical Issue. The Sun's magnetic field is responsible for the spectacularly dynamic and intri cate phenomenon that we call the corona. The past decade has seen an enormous increase in our understanding of this part of the solar outer atmosphere, both as a result of observations and because of rapid advances in numerical studies. The Yohkoh satellite has observed the Sun now for over eight years, producing spectac ular sequences of images that convey the complexity of the corona. The imaging and spectroscopic instruments on SOHO have added information on the cooler part of the corona. And since April of 1998 TRACE has given us very high resolution images of the 1-2 MK corona, at cadences that allow detailed observations of field oscillations, loop evolution, mass ejecta, etc.

It was about fourteen years ago that some of us became intrigued with the idea of searching the sky for X-ray and gamma-ray sources other than the Sun, the only celestial emitter of high-energy photons known at that time. It was, of course, clear that an effort in this direction would not have been successful unless there occurred, somewhere in space, processes capable of producing high-energy photons much more efficiently than the processes responsible for the radiative emission of the Sun or of ordinary stars. The possible existence of such processes became the subject of much study and discussion. As an important part of this activity, I wish to recall a one-day conference on X-ray astronomy held at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1960. The theoretical predictions did not provide much encouragement. While several 'unusual' celestial objects were pin-pointed as possible, or even likely, sources of X-rays, it did not look as if any of them would be strong enough to be observable with instru mentation not too far beyond the state of the art. Fortunately, we did not allow our selves to be dissuaded. As far as I am personally concerned, I must admit that my main motivation for pressing forward was a deep-seated faith in the boundless re sourcefulness of nature, which so often leaves the most daring imagination of man far behind."

This text expounds in a logical and scientific manner the idea that life did not originate on earth, but was added to it from the comets. When Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe first made this proposal in the 1970s, they had few takers - because the theory flew in the face of established beliefs. This text argues that in recent years, evidence to support this theory has accumulated from many different directions and grown to the point of being compelling. This work should be of value to readers interested in general science, the origin of man and the meaning of life.

This volume covers most areas in the physics of the solar system, with special emphasis on gravitational dynamics; its gist is the rational, in particular mathematical, understanding of the main processes at work. Special stress is given to the variety of objects in the planetary system and their long-term evolution. The unique character of this book is its breadth and depth, which aims at bringing the reader to the threshold of original research; however, special chapters and introductory sections are included for the benefit of the beginner.

Physics of the Solar System is based on the earlier work by B. Bertotti and P. Farinella: Physics of the Earth and the Solar System, which has been completely revised and updated, and more focused on the solar system. It generally attains a higher level than the previous version. This volume is generally suitable for post-graduate students and researchers in physics, especially in the field related to the solar system. A large amount of figures and diagrams is included, often compiled with real data.

Short Historical Overview In the 1940s, two phenomena in the ?eld of cosmic rays (CR) forced scientists to think that the Sun is a powerful source of high-energy particles. One of these was discovered because of the daily solar variation of CR, which the maximum number of CR observed near noon (referring to the existence of continuous ?ux of CR from the direction of the Sun); this became the experimental basis of the theory that CR's originate from the Sun (or, for that matter, from within the solar system) (Alfven 1954). The second phenomenon was discovered when large ?uxes of high energy particles were detected from several solar ?ares, or solar CR. These are the - called ground level events (GLE), and were ?rst observed by ionization chambers shielded by 10 cm Pb (and detected mainly from the secondary muon-component CR that they caused) during the events of the 28th of February 1942, the 7th of March 1942, the 25th of July 1946, and the 19th of November 1949. The biggest such event was detected on the 23rd of February 1956 (see the detailed description in Chapters X and XI of Dorman, M1957). The ?rst phenomenon was investigated in detail in Dorman (M1957), by ?rst correcting experimental data on muon temperature effects and then by using coupling functions to determine the change in particle energy caused by the solar-diurnal CR variation."

The progress of science during the past centuries has been in some measure energized by the development of new technologies. People are no more intelligent now than they were five centuries ago, or indeed five millenia ago. The differences are in the pool of past experience and the availability of means for manipulating the physical and mental environment. Until fairly recently, the development of new technologies in astronomy and geodesy has served primarily either to broaden the scope of phenomena that could be studied or to improve the precision with which one could examine already-studied phenomena. There seemed to be no likelihood that a situation could arise similar to that in particle physics, where the uncertainty principle indicates that the observation of the state of an object alters that state, affecting the observation. Indeed, we have not yet reached that point, but certain of the new techniques have introduced a degree of complication and inter dependence perhaps not previously encountered in the macro sciences. When observational capability is so fine that the data can be corrupted by the tidal motions of the instruments, for example, then there are a myriad of physical effects that must be considered in analyzing the data; the happy aspect of this is that the data can be used to study exactly these same effects. The complication does not, however, extend only to predictive computations against which the data are compared."

Starting in 1995 numerical modeling of the Earth's dynamo has ourished with remarkable success. Direct numerical simulation of convection-driven MHD- ow in a rotating spherical shell show magnetic elds that resemble the geomagnetic eld in many respects: they are dominated by the axial dipole of approximately the right strength, they show spatial power spectra similar to that of Earth, and the magnetic eld morphology and the temporal var- tion of the eld resembles that of the geomagnetic eld (Christensen and Wicht 2007). Some models show stochastic dipole reversals whose details agree with what has been inferred from paleomagnetic data (Glatzmaier and Roberts 1995; Kutzner and Christensen 2002; Wicht 2005). While these models represent direct numerical simulations of the fundamental MHD equations without parameterized induction effects, they do not match actual pla- tary conditions in a number of respects. Speci cally, they rotate too slowly, are much less turbulent, and use a viscosity and thermal diffusivity that is far too large in comparison to magnetic diffusivity. Because of these discrepancies, the success of geodynamo models may seem surprising. In order to better understand the extent to which the models are applicable to planetary dynamos, scaling laws that relate basic properties of the dynamo to the fundamental control parameters play an important role. In recent years rst attempts have been made to derive such scaling laws from a set of numerical simulations that span the accessible parameter space (Christensen and Tilgner 2004; Christensen and Aubert 2006).

This publication is a result of three meetings, each 5 days long, held at the Goddard Space Flight Center on January 24-28, 1983, June 8-14, 1983, and February 13-17, 1984. The meetings were held in the interim between the full operations of the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) in 1980, and the renewed operations after its repair in orbit in April 1984. Their general objectives were as follows: o Synthesize flare studies after three years of SMM data analysis. Many analyses of individual flares and individual phenomena, often jointly across many data sources had been published, but a need existed for a broader synthesis and updating of our understanding of solar flares since the Skylab Flare Workshops held several years earlier. o Encourage a broader participation in the SMM data anlysis and combine this more fully with theory and other data sources--data obtained with other spacecraft such as the HINOTORI, P78-1, and ISEE-3 spacecrafts, and with the Very Large Array (VLA) and many other ground-based instruments. Many coordinated data sets, unprecedented in their breadth of coverage and multiplicity of sources, had been obtained within the structure of the Solar Maximum Year (SMY). o Stimulate joint studies, and publication in the general scientific literature. The intended primary benefit was for informal collaborations to be started or broadened at the Workshops with subsequent publications. o Provide a special publication resulting from this Workshop. o Provide a starting point of understanding for planning renewed full observations with the repaired SMM.

Double and multiple stars are the rule in the stellar population, and single stars the minority, as the abundance of binary systems in the space surrounding the sun shows beyond doubt. Numerous stellar features, and methods of their exploration, ensue specifically from the one but widespread property, the binary nature. Stellar masses are basic quantities for the theory of stellar structure and evolution, and they are ob tained from binary-star orbits where they depend on the cube of observed parameters; this fact illustrates the significance of orbits as well as the accuracy requirements. Useful in dating stellar history is the knowledge that components of a system, different though they may appear, are of the same origin and age. Between star formation and the genesis of binaries a direct connection can be traced. The later stages of stellar life branch into a great variety as mutual influence between the components of a close binary pair develops. Transfer and exchange of mass and the presence of angular momentum in the orbit give rise to special tracks of evolution, not found for single stars, and to peculiar spectral groups. This is not a new story but it has a new ending: The patterns of evolution involving mass transfer appear to lead ultimately to single objects."

The 10th ESLAB Symposium was held at Grossenzersdorf near Vienna on 10-13 June 1975 under the title 'The Scientific Satellite Programme During the Inter national Magnetospheric Study'. The Symposium was attended by an invited audience of 60 scientists from the ESA Member States, the United States, Japan, Canada and Austria. Following a report by the joint COSPAR-IUCSTP Special Working Group, the International Magnetospheric Study (lMS) is proposed as an international co operative enterprise of limited duration, having as its principal objective the achie vement of a comprehensive, quantitative understanding of the dynamical processes operating in the Earth's plasma and field environment. In order to accomplish this objective, it is thought to be necessary to carry out simultaneous measurements with nearly identical instrumentation at various points in space. These measurements will need to be made in combination with appropriate observations at or near the Earth's surface. Besides near-Earth observations by ground-based, rocket- and balloon-borne instrumentation, satellite investigations are expected to make an important contri bution to the IMS. A number of satellites assigned to magnetospheric research have recently been launched, or will be launched shortly, to be operational during the IMS. The European Space Agency has devoted two of its forthcoming scientific satellites - GEOS and ISEE-B - to magnetospheric and interplanetary research.

This volume tries to summarize the status of observational knowledge of the Kuiper Belt. Its recent discovery has revitalized the astromomical study of the Solar System and is beginning to open new and unexpected windows on the physics of planetesimal accretion. With more and better observational data being obtained at the technological limit of current facilities, a new perception of the relationships that exist among the various classes of small Solar System bodies has emerged. The new observations have also motivated a number of fascinating theoretical studies in Solar System dynamics.

Even before the present Administrator of NASA, Daniel Goldin, made the phrase 'better, faster, cheaper' the slogan of at least the Office of Space Science, that same office under the Associate Administrator of Lennard Fisk and its Division of Solar System Exploration under the direction of Wes Huntress had begun a series of planetary spacecraft whose developmental cost, phase CID in the parlance of the trade, was to be held to under $150M. In order to get the program underway rapidly they chose two missions without the open solicitation now the hallmark of the program. One of these two missions, JPL' s Mars Pathfinder, was to be a technology demonstration mission with little immediate science return that would enable later high priority science missions to Mars. Many of the science investigations that were included had significant foreign contributions to keep NASA's cost of the mission within the Discovery budget. The second of these missions and the first to be launched was the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, or NEAR, awarded to Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory. This mission was quite different than Mars Pathfinder, being taken from the list of high priority objectives of the science community and emphasizing the science return and not the technology development of the mission. This mission was also to prove to be well under the $150M phase CID cap.

JAXA 's Kaguya mission was successfully launched to the Moon on September 14, 2007 reaching its nominal 100 km circular orbit on October 19 after releasing two subsatellites Okina and Ouna in elliptical orbits with perilunes of 100 km and apolunes of 2400 and 800 km respectively. Observations were obtained for 10 months during the nominal mission beginning in mid-December 2007 followed by 8 month extended mission where data were obtained in lower orbits.

The articles in this book were written by experts in each of the scientific areas of the Kaguya mission, and describe both the mission and the individual scientific investigations, including their objectives, the specifications of the instruments, their calibrations and initial results. This book is essential reading to all potential users of the Kaguya data and those interested in the scientific results of the mission, the properties of the lunar surface and crust and planetary exploration in general.

High pressure mineral physics is a field that has shaped our understanding of deep planetary interiors and revealed new material phenomena occurring at extreme conditions. Comprised of sixteen chapters written by well-established experts, this book covers recent advances in static and dynamic compression techniques and enhanced diagnostic capabilities, including synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction, spectroscopic measurements, in situ X-ray diffraction under dynamic loading, and multigrain crystallography at megabar pressures. Applications range from measuring equations of state, elasticity, and deformation of materials at high pressure, to high pressure synthesis, thermochemistry of high pressure phases, and new molecular compounds and superconductivity under extreme conditions. This book also introduces experimental geochemistry in the laser-heated diamond-anvil cell enabled by the focused ion beam technique for sample recovery and quantitative chemical analysis at submicron scale. Each chapter ends with an insightful perspective of future directions, making it an invaluable source for graduate students and researchers.

Minor bodies in the Solar System, though representing only a small fraction of the mass in the Solar System, may well play a fundamental role in terrestrial evolution. This book contains investigations of the dynamics and physics of comets, asteroids and meteor streams, and the rather controversial topic of periodic phenomena in the Solar System as signified by geological records, together with several associated developments in celestial dynamics. All these problems are interwoven. This book makes a contribution towards unravelling the nature of the interactions between the Earth and its celestial environment.

Comets are always very impressive phenomena. Their appearances at regular, but mostly irregular, times excite people who see them. Astronomers have the obvious advantage of being able to see more of comets, and to study them. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the 50 papers in this book, written by more than 90 experts. The reviews in this book clearly describe a landmark in the history of cometary studies. Knowledge gathered up to and including Comet Halley are presented in two volumes. The first volume is about general aspects of observing and studying comets, where they originate and how their evolution develops. The second volume goes into the details of what a comet is: the nucleus, the coma, cometary dust, plasmas and magnetic fields. The book ends with a reflection by Fred Whipple about Comets in the Post-Halley Era. The book discusses all aspects of comets and is therefore suitable for use in graduate level courses. All astronomers and geophysicists interested in comets will find very useful and well-presented information in this book.

This book deals with an effect in celestial mechanics that has become quite important in exoplanet research. The Lidov-Kozai effect reveals itself in coherent periodic variations (which can be very large) of the inclination and eccentricity of an orbiting body in the presence of an inclined perturber. The effect is known to be important in the motion of many asteroids and planetary satellites. What is more, now it attracts more and more interest in the astronomical and astrophysical community due to its relevance for many exoplanetary systems. Recent years witnessed major advancements in its theory. It would be no exaggeration to say that nowadays the Lidov-Kozai effect becomes one of the most studied astrophysical effects. This book covers the multitude of the Lidov-Kozai effect's modern applications and its theory developments. It will be useful for researchers and students working in astrophysics, celestial mechanics, stellar dynamics, theoretical mechanics, space missions design, depending on the interests of the reader. The book is self-contained. It provides the full detailed coverage of the effect's theory and applications.

Solar flares are very complex electromagnetic phenomena of a cataclysmic nature. Particles are accelerated to very high velocities and a variety of physical processes happen inside and outside flares. These processes can be studied by a large number of techniques from Earth and from space. The aim is to discover the physics behind solar flares. This goal is complicated because information about the flare mechanism can be obtained only in an indirect way by studying the secondary effects. This book provides three stages in the solution of the solar flare problem. Chapter one describes the connection between observational data and theoretical concepts, where it is stressed that next to investigating flares, the related non-stationary large-scale phenomena must be studied as well. The second chapter deals with secondary physical processes, in particular the study of high-temperature plasma dynamics during impulsive heating. The last chapter presents a model built on the knowledge of the two previous chapters and it constructs a theory of non-neutral turbulent current sheets. The author believes that this model will help to solve the problem of solar flares. For solar physicists, plasma physicists, high-energy particle physicists.

Our knowledge of the heliosphere in three dimensions near solar minimum has advanced significantly in the last 10 years, largely as a result of the on-going ESAINASA Ulysses mission. Similar advances in our understanding of the global heliosphere near solar maximum are to be expected with the return of Ulysses to high solar latitudes in 2000/200 I. With this in mind, the 34th ESLAB Symposium, held at ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, on 3-6 October, 2000, was devoted to 'The 3-D Heliosphere at Solar Maximum'. This was the third ESLAB Sympo sium focusing on the three-dimensional heliosphere (previous symposia being in 1985 and 1994), and the timing was particularly appropriate, marking as it did the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Ulysses spacecraft. Furthermore, Ulysses had just started its third high-latitude pass, the second over the Sun's south polar regions. The symposium addressed a wide range of topics related to the solar-maximum heliosphere, with presentations on many of the latest findings from Ulysses and other space-based missions. Ground-based studies and theoretical modeling were also well represented. Specific questions to which answers were sought included the following.

This volume contains the reviews and poster papers presented at the workshop Solar Convection and Oscillations and their Relationship: SCORe '96, held in Arhus, Denmark, May 27 - 31, 1996. The aim of this workshop was to bring together experts in the fields of convection and helioseismology, and to stimulate collaborations and joint research. The participation to this workshop was purposely kept limited in order to provide optimal conditions for informal discussions. In autumn of 199,5 the long-awaited GONG network of solar telescopes became fully operational and the first data already show significant improvement over existing datasets on solar oscillations. Furthermore, in December of 1995 the satellite SOHO was launched which, together with GONG, provides a major step forward in both the quantity and the quality of available solar oscillation data. It is with this in mind that we decided to organize the workshop to prepare for the optimal use of this wealth of data, with which to deepen our understanding of solar structure and specifically, of one of the longest-standing problems in solar and stellar modelling: the treatment of convection.

The atmosphere and climate of Mars is a crucial factor, both for understanding the planet's past and appreciating the possibilities of its future. Given the high level of current interest in Mars, and the major advances afforded by recent space exploration, this book seeks to examine and review our knowledge and understanding of the meteorology and climate of Mars in its present state. This is based not only upon direct observations, but also on the newer techniques of modelling: numerical simulation and data assimilation. This authoritative discussion of Mars' atmosphere and climate gives a balanced review of some of the hottest issues concerning Mars' environments, its present and past climate and potential to support life, and its possible future following manned exploration.

Proceedings of a Symposium organized by the Summer Advanced Study Institute, held at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, August 3-14, 1970

The SOLAR-A spacecraft was launched by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan (ISS) in August 1991, and, following and ISAS tradition, was renamed YOHKOH. This mission is dedicated principally to the study of solar flares, especially of high-energy phenomena observed in the X-ray and gamma-ray ranges. With a co-ordinated set of instruments including hard X-ray and soft X-ray imaging telescopes as well as spectrometers with advanced capabilities, it is expected to reveal new aspects of flares and help better understand their physics, supporting international collaborations with ground-based observatories as well as theoretical investigations. An overview of this mission, including the stallite, its scientific instruments, and its operation is given in this book.