This thesis describes the essential features of Moon-plasma interactions with a particular emphasis on the Earth's magnetotail plasma regime from both observational and theoretical standpoints. The Moon lacks a dense atmosphere as well as a strong intrinsic magnetic field. As a result, its interactions with the ambient plasma are drastically different from solar-wind interactions with magnetized planets such as Earth. The Moon encounters a wide range of plasma regime from the relatively dense, cold, supersonic solar-wind plasma to the low-density, hot, subsonic plasma in the geomagnetic tail. In this book, the author presents a series of new observations from recent lunar missions (i.e., Kaguya, ARTEMIS, and Chandrayaan-1), demonstrating the importance of the electron gyro-scale dynamics, plasma of lunar origin, and hot plasma interactions with lunar magnetic anomalies. The similarity and difference between the Moon-plasma interactions in the geomagnetic tail and those in the solar wind are discussed throughout the thesis. The basic knowledge presented in this book can be applied to plasma interactions with airless bodies throughout the solar system and beyond.

A new and detailed picture of Mercury is emerging thanks to NASA's MESSENGER mission that spent four years in orbit about the Sun's innermost planet. Comprehensively illustrated by close-up images and other data, the author describes Mercury's landscapes from a geological perspective: from sublimation hollows, to volcanic vents, to lava plains, to giant thrust faults. He considers what its giant core, internal structure and weird composition have to tell us about the formation and evolution of a planet so close to the Sun. This is of special significance in view of the discovery of so many exoplanets in similarly close orbits about their stars. Mercury generates its own magnetic field, like the Earth (but unlike Venus, Mars and the Moon), and the interplay between Mercury's and the Sun's magnetic field affects many processes on its surface and in the rich and diverse exosphere of neutral and charged particles surrounding the planet. There is much about Mercury that we still don't understand. Accessible to the amateur, but also a handy state-of-the-art digest for students and researchers, the book shows how our knowledge of Mercury developed over the past century of ground-based, fly-by and orbital observations, and looks ahead at the mysteries remaining for future missions to explore.

This work presents a study of methods useful for modeling and understanding dynamical systems in the Galaxy. A natural coordinate system for the study of dynamical systems is the angle-action coordinate system. New methods for the approximation of the action-angle variables in general potentials are presented and discussed. These new tools are applied to the construction of dynamical models for two of the Galaxy’s components: tidal streams and the Galactic disc. Tidal streams are remnants of tidally stripped satellites in the Milky Way that experience the effects of the large scale structure of the Galactic gravitational potential, while the Galactic disc provides insights into the nature of the Galaxy near the Sun. Appropriate action-based models are presented and discussed for these components, and extended to include further information such as the metallicity of stars.

This book describes how to predict and forecast the state of planet Earth’s ionosphere under quiet and disturbed conditions in terms of dynamical processes in the weakly ionized plasma media of the upper atmosphere and their relation to available modern measurements and modelling techniques. It explains the close relationship between the state of the media and the radio wave propagation conditions via this media. The prediction and forecasting algorithms, methods and models are oriented towards providing a practical approach to ionospherically dependent systems design and engineering. Proper understanding of the ionosphere is of fundamental practical importance because it is an essential part of telecommunication and navigation systems that use the ionosphere to function or would function much better in its nonappearance on the Earth and on any planet with an atmosphere.

Human migration to space will be the most profound catalyst for evolution in the history of humankind, yet this has had little impact on determining our strategies for this next phase of exploration. Habitation in space will require extensive technological interfaces between humans and their alien surroundings and how they are deployed will critically inform the processes of adaptation. As humans begin to spend longer durations in space-eventually establishing permanent outposts on other planets-the scope of technological design considerations must expand beyond the meager requirements for survival to include issues not only of comfort and well-being, but also of engagement and negotiation with the new planetary environment that will be crucial to our longevity beyond Earth. Approaching this question from an interdisciplinary approach, this dissertation explores how the impact of interior space architecture can meet both the physical and psychological needs of future space colonists and set the stage for humankind to thrive and grow while setting down new roots beyond Earth.

The presentations at this NASA-hosted Symposium in honor of Mino Freund will touch upon the fields, to which his prolific mind has made significant contributions. These include low temperature physics, cosmology, and nanotechnology with its wide-ranging applicability to material science, neuroscience, Earth sciences and satellite technology. To learn more about Mino’s career you can download the "Tribute" http://multimedia.seti.org/mino/Tribute.pdf which outlines his journey from (i) low-temperature physics and superconductivity at the ETH Zürich to (ii) building one remarkable milliKelvin refrigerator for the US-Japan IRTS mission at UC Berkeley and ISAS in Japan to (iii) a decade in cosmology, to (iv) being on the micro-bolometer team at NASA Goddard for the HAWC instrument on SOFIA, to (v) developing at AFRL the nanotechnology portfolio for the entire Air Force. This was followed by six years at the NASA Ames Research Center, where Mino formulated his far-ahead ideas about swarms of capable nanosats circling the Earth, which have since started to become a reality. He engaged in a broad range of nanotechnology projects, including novel applications in neuroscience well before he himself was struck by the deadly brain tumor.

In this book an international group of specialists discusses studies of exoplanets subjected to extreme stellar radiation and plasma conditions. It is shown that such studies will help us to understand how terrestrial planets and their atmospheres, including the early Venus, Earth and Mars, evolved during the host star’s active early phase. The book presents an analysis of findings from Hubble Space Telescope observations of transiting exoplanets, as well as applications of advanced numerical models for characterizing the upper atmosphere structure and stellar environments of exoplanets. The authors also address detections of atoms and molecules in the atmosphere of “hot Jupiters� by NASA’s Spitzer telescope. The observational and theoretical investigations and discoveries presented are both timely and important in the context of the next generation of space telescopes. The book is divided into four main parts, grouping chapters on exoplanet host star radiation and plasma environments, exoplanet upper atmosphere and environment observations, exoplanet and stellar magnetospheres, and exoplanet observation and characterization. The book closes with an outlook on the future of this research field.

The ARTEMIS mission was initiated by skillfully moving the two outermost Earth-orbiting THEMIS spacecraft into lunar orbit to conduct unprecedented dual spacecraft observations of the lunar environment. ARTEMIS stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun. Indeed, this volume discusses initial findings related to the Moon's magnetic and plasma environments and the electrical conductivity of the lunar interior. This work is aimed at researchers and graduate students in both heliophysics and planetary physics. Originally published in Space Science Reviews, Vol. 165/1-4, 2011.

This volume addresses the creation, documentation, preservation, and study of the archaeology of lunar, planetary, and interstellar exploration. It defines the attributes of common human technological expressions within national and, increasingly, private exploration efforts, and explore the archaeology of both fixed and mobile artifacts in the solar system and the wider galaxy. This book presents the research of the foremost scholars in the field of space archaeology and heritage, a recent discipline of the field of Space Archaeology and Heritage. It provides the emerging archaeological perspective on the history of the human exploration of space. Since humans have been creating a vast archaeological preserve in space and on other celestial bodies. This assemblage of heritage objects and sites attest to the human presence off the Earth and the study of these material remains are best investigated by archaeologists and historic preservationists. As space exploration has reached the half century mark, it is the appropriate time to reflect on the major events and technological development of this particular unique 20th century arena of human history. The authors encapsulate various ways of looking at the archaeology of both fixed and mobile human artifacts in the solar system. As missions continue into space, and as private ventures gear up for public and tourist visits to space and to the Moon and even Mars, it is the appropriate time to address questions about the meaning and significance of this material culture.

Presents a comprehensive approach to the open questions in solar cosmic ray research and includes consistent and detailed considerations of conceptual, observational, theoretical, experimental and applied aspects of the field. The results of solar cosmic ray (SCR) investigations from 1942 to the present are summarized in this book. It treats the research questions in a self-contained form in all of its associations, from fundamental astrophysical aspects to geophysical, aeronautical and cosmonautical applications. A large amount of new data is included, which has been accumulated during the last several decades of space research. This second edition contains numerous updates and corrections to the text, figures and references. The author has also added several new sections about GLEs and radiation hazards. In addition, an extensive bibliography is provided, which covers non-partially the main achievements and failures in the field. This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers in solar physics and space science.

Choice Highly Recommended Title, January 2020 This special edition of Apollo in Perspective marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. Updated and revised throughout, it takes a retrospective look at the Apollo space program and the technology that was used to land a man on the Moon. In addition, there is a new chapter looking forward to the future of contemporary spaceflight in returning to the Moon (project Artemis) and going on to Mars. Using simple illustrations and school-level mathematics, it explains the basic physics and technology of spaceflight, from how rockets work to the dynamics of orbits and how to simulate gravity in a rotating spacecraft. A mathematical appendix shows how some of the formulas can be derived. This is an excellent introduction to astronautics for anyone interested in space and spaceflight. Features: Accessible, written in a friendly and informal style Contains real-world examples Updated throughout, with new chapters on the Apollo missions and the immediate future of human spaceflight From the Foreword "I am sure there is a woman or a man alive today who will land on the Moon and on Mars. This book will certainly help them be ready for such a journey. Most importantly, it explains not only what happened 50 years ago, but how the Apollo missions happened, and the science that is required to do it again, or to go further, to Mars. If the reader is younger, still in school and perhaps considering the sciences, this book will introduce ideas that will help you choose the subjects to study which can help you to make your space travel a reality. For others, the book will be an exciting and thought provoking read that gives a vision of the near future in space, which all of us on planet Earth will be able to enjoy as the adventure unfolds."- Michael Foale, CBE, former-NASA astronaut

The outer Solar System is rich in resources and may be the best region in which to search for life beyond Earth. In fact, it may ultimately be the best place for Earthlings to set up permanent abodes. This book surveys the feasibility of that prospect, covering the fascinating history of exploration that kicks off our adventure into the outer Solar System. Although other books provide surveys of the outer planets, Carroll approaches it from the perspective of potential future human exploration, exploitation and settlement, using insights from today's leading scientists in the field. These experts take us to targets such as the moons Titan, Triton, Enceladus, Iapetus and Europa, and within the atmospheres of the gas and ice giants. In these pages you will experience the thrill of discovery awaiting those who journey through the giant worlds and their moons. All the latest research is included, as are numerous illustrations, among them original paintings by the author, a renowned prize-winning space artist.

This book explores the relations between physical parameters of extrasolar planets and their respective parent stars. Planetary parameters are often directly dependent upon their stellar counterparts. In addition, the star is almost always the only visible component of the system and contains most of the system mass. Consequently, the parent star heavily influences every aspect of planetary physics and astrophysics. Drs. Kaspar von Braun and Tabetha Boyajian use direct methods to characterize exoplanet host starts that minimize the number of assumptions needed to be made in the process. The book provides a background on interferometric techniques for stellar diameter measurements, illustrates the authors' approach on using additional data to fully characterize the stars, provides a comprehensive update on the current state of the field, and examines in detail a number of historically significant and well-studied exoplanetary systems.

Combining the latest scientific advances with storytelling skills unmatched in the cosmos, an award-winning astrophysicist and popular writer leads us on a tour of some of the greatest mysteries of our universe. In the constellation of Eridanus, there lurks a cosmic mystery: It's as if something has taken a huge bite out of the universe. But what is the culprit? The hole in the universe is just one of many puzzles keeping cosmologists busy. Supermassive black holes, bubbles of nothingness gobbling up space, monster universes swallowing others-these and many other bizarre ideas are being pursued by scientists. Due to breathtaking progress in astronomy, the history of our universe is now better understood than the history of our own planet. But these advances have uncovered some startling riddles. In this electrifying new book, renowned cosmologist and author Paul Davies lucidly explains what we know about the cosmos and its enigmas, exploring the tantalizing-and sometimes terrifying-possibilities that lie before us. As Davies guides us through the audacious research offering mind-bending solutions to these and other mysteries, he leads us up to the greatest outstanding conundrum of all: Why does the universe even exist in the first place? And how did a system of mindless, purposeless particles manage to bring forth conscious, thinking beings? Filled with wit and wonder, What's Eating the Universe? is a dazzling tour of cosmic questions, sure to entertain, enchant, and inspire us all.

This volume presents the latest research results on solar prominences, including new developments on e.g. chirality, fine structure, magnetism, diagnostic tools and relevant solar plasma physics. In 1875 solar prominences, as seen out of the solar limb, were described by P.A. Secchi in his book Le Soleil as "gigantic pink or peach-flower coloured flames". The development of spectroscopy, coronagraphy and polarimetry brought tremendous observational advances in the twentieth century. The authors present and discuss exciting new challenges (resulting from observations made by space and ground-based telescopes in the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century) concerning the diagnostics of prominences, their formation, their life time and their eruption along with their impact in the heliosphere (including the Earth). The book starts with a general introduction of the prominence "object" with some historical background on observations and instrumentation. In the next chapter, the various forms of prominences are described with a thorough attempt of classification. Their thermodynamic (and velocity) properties are then derived with emphasis on the methods (and their limits) used. This goes from the simplest optically thin case to the heavy radiative treatment of plasmas out of local thermodynamic equilibrium. The following chapters are devoted to the magnetic field measurements and indirect derivation. A new branch of diagnostic tools, the seismology, is presented along with some MHD basics. This allows to better understand the propagation of waves, the energy and force equilibria. Both small-scale and large-scale studies and their relationship are presented. The importance of the newly discovered cavities is stressed in the context of prominence destabilization. The issues of prominence formation and eruption, their connection with flares and Coronal Mass Ejections and their impact on the Earth are addressed on the basis of the latest results. Finally, an exciting new area of research is unveiled with the newly discovered evidence of similar manifestations in the Universe and their possible impact on the habitability of exoplanets. References to the basic physics (where necessary) are provided and the proposed web sites addresses will allow the reader to load exciting movies. The book is aimed at advanced students in astrophysics, post-graduates, solar physicists and more generally astrophysicists. Amateurs will enjoy the many new images which go with the text.

Space telescopes are among humankind's greatest scientific achievements of the last fifty years. This book describes the instruments themselves and what they were designed to discover about the Solar System and distant stars. Exactly how these telescopes were built and launched and the data they provided is explored. Only certain kinds of radiation can penetrate our planet's atmosphere, which limits what we can observe. But with space telescopes all this changed. We now have the means to "see" beyond Earth using ultraviolet, microwave, and infrared rays, X-rays and gamma rays. In this book we meet the pioneers and the telescopes that were built around their ideas. This book looks at space telescopes not simply chronologically but also in order of the electromagnetic spectrum, making it possible to understand better why they were made.

This thesis presents fundamental work that explains two mysteries concerning the trajectory of interplanetary spacecraft. For the first problem, the so-called Pioneer anomaly, a wholly new and innovative method was developed for computing all contributions to the acceleration due to onboard thermal sources. Through a careful analysis of all parts of the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and 11, the application of this methodology has yielded the observed anomalous acceleration. This marks a major achievement, given that this problem remained unsolved for more than a decade. For the second anomaly, the flyby anomaly, a tiny glitch in the velocity of spacecraft that perform gravity assisting maneuvers on Earth, no definitive answer is put forward; however a quite promising strategy for examining the problem is provided and a new mission is proposed. The proposal largely consists in using the Galileo Navigational Satellite System to track approaching spacecraft, and in considering a small test body that approaches Earth from a highly elliptic trajectory.

This is a detailed description of the steps leading from raw signals measured in space, to calibrated comparable long term data sets, to its final form: useful information for user communities. Examples of applications and data validations result from different investigations in the Mediteranean area. An appendix summarizes useful formulas of the evaluation of satellite data.

This book provides an overview of solar wind turbulence from both the theoretical and observational perspective. It argues that the interplanetary medium offers the best opportunity to directly study turbulent fluctuations in collisionless plasmas. In fact, during expansion, the solar wind evolves towards a state characterized by large-amplitude fluctuations in all observed parameters, which resembles, at least at large scales, the well-known hydrodynamic turbulence. This text starts with historical references to past observations and experiments on turbulent flows. It then introduces the Navier-Stokes equations for a magnetized plasma whose low-frequency turbulence evolution is described within the framework of the MHD approximation. It also considers the scaling of plasma and magnetic field fluctuations and the study of nonlinear energy cascades within the same framework. It reports observations of turbulence in the ecliptic and at high latitude, treating Alfvenic and compressive fluctuations separately in order to explain the transport of mass, momentum and energy during the expansion. Further, existing models are compared with direct observations in the heliosphere. The problem of self-similar and anomalous fluctuations in the solar wind is then addressed using tools provided by dynamical system theory and discussed on the basis of available models and observations. The book highlights observations of Yaglom's law in solar wind turbulence, which is one of the most important findings in fully developed turbulence and directly related to the long-lasting and still unsolved problem of solar wind plasma heating. Lastly, it includes a short chapter dedicated to the kinetic range of fluctuations, which has recently been receiving more attention from the space plasma community, since this is inherently related to turbulent energy dissipation and consequent plasma heating. It particularly focuses on the nature and role of the fluctuations populating this frequency range, and discusses several model predictions and recent observational findings in this context.

Camille Flammarion (1842-1925) began his career at 16 as a human computer under the great mathematician U. J. J. Le Verrier at the Paris Observatory.  He soon tired of the drudgery; he was drawn to more romantic vistas, and at 19 wrote a book on an idea that he was to make his own—the habitability of other worlds.  There followed a career as France’s greatest popularizer of astronomy, with over 60 titles to his credit.  An admirer granted him a chateau at Juvisy-sur-l’Orge, and he set up a first-rate observatory dedicated to the study of the planet Mars. Finally, in 1892, he published his masterpiece, La Planete Mars et ses conditions d’habitabilite, a comprehensive summary of three centuries’ worth of literature on Mars, much of it based on his own personal research into rare memoirs and archives.  As a history of that era, it has never been surpassed, and remains one of a handful of indispensable books on the red planet. Sir Patrick Moore (1923-2012) needs no introduction; his record of popularizing astronomy in Britain in the 20th century equaled Flammarion’s in France in the 19th century.  Moore pounded out hundreds of books as well as served as presenter of the BBC’s TV program “Sky at Night� program for 55 years (a world record).  Though Moore always insisted that the Moon was his chef-d’oeuvre, Mars came a close second, and in 1980 he produced a typescript of Flammarion’s classic.  Unfortunately, even he found the project too daunting for his publish ers and passed the torch of keeping the project alive to a friend, the amateur astronomer and author William Sheehan, in 1993. Widely regarded as a leading historian of the planet Mars,  Sheehan has not only meticulously compared and corrected Moore’s manuscript against Flammarion’s original so as to produce an authoritative text, he has  added an important introduction showing the book’s significance in the history of Mars studies.  Here results a book that remains an invaluable resource and is also a literary tour-de-force, in which the inimitable style of Flammarion has been rendered in the equally unique style of Moore.

"The Early Evolution of the Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets" presents the main processes participating in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. A group of experts in the different fields provide an update of our current knowledge on this topic. Several papers in this book discuss the key role of nitrogen in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. The earliest setting and evolution of planetary atmospheres of terrestrial planets is directly associated with accretion, chemical differentiation, outgassing, stochastic impacts, and extremely high energy fluxes from their host stars. This book provides an overview of the present knowledge of the initial atmospheric composition of the terrestrial planets. Additionally it includes some papers about the current exoplanet discoveries and provides additional clues to our understanding of Earth's transition from a hot accretionary phase into a habitable world. All papers included were reviewed by experts in their respective fields. We are living in an epoch of important exoplanet discoveries, but current properties of these exoplanets do not match our scientific predictions using standard terrestrial planet models. This book deals with the main physio-chemical signatures and processes that could be useful to better understand the formation of rocky planets.

In September 2011, the GRAIL mission launched two unmanned spacecraft to the Moon, which entered into lunar orbit on December 31, 2011 and January 1, 2012. They orbited the Moon until December 17, 2012, when they impacted the surface near the Moon's north pole. This book contains three review articles co-authored by the GRAIL Science Team and Guest Scientists that describe the reasons for the GRAIL mission, the development of the necessary technology, and the design of the mission to acquire the most precise measurements of the lunar gravity field possible today. The book provides a detailed description of the GRAIL mission's scientific objectives, the instrumentation and its required performance, the complex simulation of the measurement system for determining the gravity field, and the innovative education and public outreach of the mission directed toward middle-school students who could select areas of the Moon for imaging with the onboard MoonKam camera system. This volume is aimed at researchers and graduate students active in solar system science and planetology. Originally published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 178/1, 2013.

Geostationary Satellites Collocation aims to find solutions for deploying a safe and reliable collocation control. Focusing on the orbital perturbation analysis, the mathematical foundations for orbit and control of the geostationary satellite. The mathematical and physical principle of orbital maneuver and collocation strategies for multi geostationary satellites sharing with the same dead band is also stressed. Moreover, the book presents some applications using the above algorithms and mathematical models to help readers master the corrective method for planning station keeping maneuvers. Engineers and scientists in the fields of aerospace technology and space science can benefit from this book. Hengnian Li is the Deputy Director of State Key Laboratory of Astronautic Dynamics, China.

Nominated as an outstanding thesis by the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of New Mexico, this thesis seeks to identify the gamma-ray burst (GRB) progenitor. GRBs are extragalactic explosions that briefly outshine entire galaxies, but the mechanism that can release that much energy over a < 100 second burst is still a mystery. The leading candidate for the GRB progenitor is currently a massive star which collapses to form a black hole-accretion disk system that powers the GRB. GRB afterglows, however, do not always show the expected behavior of a relativistic blast wave interacting with the stellar wind that such a progenitor should have produced before its collapse. In this book, the author uses the Zeus-MP astrophysical hydrodynamics code to model the environment around a stellar progenitor prior to the burst. He then develops a new semi-analytic MHD and emission model to produce light curves for GRBs encountering these realistic density profiles. The work ultimately shows that the circumburst medium surrounding a GRB at the time of the explosion is much more complex than a pure wind, and that observed afterglows are entirely consistent with a large subset of proposed stellar progenitors.

This book introduces the theory of stellar atmospheres. Almost everything we know about stars is by analysis of the radiation coming from their atmospheres. Several aspects of astrophysics require accurate atmospheric parameters and abundances. Spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools at an astronomer’s disposal, allowing the determination of the fundamental parameters of stars: surface temperature, gravity, chemical composition, magnetic field, rotation and turbulence. These can be supplemented by distance measurements or pulsation parameters providing information about stellar interior and stellar evolution, otherwise unavailable. The volume is based on lectures presented at the Wrocław's Spectroscopic School aimed at training young researchers in performing quantitative spectral analysis of low-, mid-, and high-resolution spectra of B, A, and F-type stars.