This volume considers the role comets may have played in the origins and evolution of life. This is the only book dealing in depth with this subject. It is particularly relevant in light of recent investigations of Halley's comet, of new insights into organic synthesis in meteorites and comets, and of new results of numerical simulations of cometary orbits and impacts on Earth. The book is intended as a comprehensive review of current research.

Physics of Planetary Rings describes striking structures of the planetary rings of Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune: Narrow ringlets, spiral waves, and a chain of clumps. The author has contributed essential ideas to the full understanding of planetary rings via the stability analysis of dynamical systems. The combination of a high-quality description, the set of interesting illustrations, as well as the fascinating and natural presentation will make this book of considerable interest to astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians as well as students. There is no competing text for this book so far.

This book presents a wealth of new information that enables environmental scientists and authorities to design methods for measuring and modelling emission rates related to specific pollution sources, and thus to generate improved emission inventories and reduction strategies. The text shows how to carry out experiments to verify emission data, including tunnel and open motorway studies, comprehensive city experiments and tracer experiments.

Based on data from an experiment which ran for ten years, this book summarizes the results of the Atmospheric Physics Department of the St. Petersburg University and the Main Geophysical Observatory. The processed data now forms a rich dataset of spectral values of radiative characteristics under different atmospheric conditions. The analysis of this database clearly shows that the solar radiative absorption in a dusty and cloudy atmosphere is significantly higher than assumed to date. Both graduate students of atmospheric sciences as well as scientists and researchers in the field of meteorology and climatology will find a wealth of new data and information in this monograph.

Astromineralogy deals with the science of gathering mineralogical information from the astronomical spectroscopy of asteroids, comets and dust in the circumstellar environments in general. This field has received a tremendous boost with the reliable identification of minerals by the Infrared Space Observatory. The first edition of this book, published in 2003, was the first comprehensive and coherent account of this exciting field. Data obtained in the meantime with the Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope, the stardust mission to the comet 81P / Wild 2, and with the Cassini mission, together with progress in ground-based observations and laboratory astrophysics form the basis for this updated and widely extended second edition.Beyond addressing the specialist in the field, the book is intended as a high-level but readable introduction to astromineralogy for both the nonspecialist researcher and the advanced student.

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.

The purpose of this reference and handbook is to describe and to derive the analytic solutionsoftheequationsofsatellitemotionperturbedbyextraterrestrialandgeo- tential disturbances of the second order. The equations of satellite motion perturbed by extraterrestrial disturbances are solved by means of discretization and appr- imated potential function as well as Gaussian equations. The equations perturbed by geopotential disturbances are solved by symbolic mathematical operations. The traditional problem of singularity in the solutions is solved by so-called singulari- free orbit theory. Simpli?ed disturbed equations of motion are proposed to simplify the solutions. Applications of the theory for analytic orbit determination are also discussed. Indeed, this is the ?rst book since the satellite era, which describes s- tematically the orbit theory with analytical solutions, with respect to all of extrat- restrial and geopotential disturbances of the second order, and the solutions are free of singularity. Based on such a theory, the algorithms of orbit determination can be renewed; deeper insight into the physics of disturbances becomes possible; the way to a variety of new applications and re?nements is opened. My primary knowledge of the orbit theory came from my education of mat- matics while studying physics and theoretical mechanics (1981). My ?rst practical experience with orbit came from the research activity at the Technical University (TU) Berlin on orbit corrections of the satellite altimetry data (1988-1992). The extensive experience on orbit came from the GPS/Galileo software development for orbit determination and geopotential mapping at the GFZ (2001-2004).

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.

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.

Studies of stellar formation in galaxies have a profound impact on our understanding of the present and the early universe. The book describes complex physical processes involved in the creation of stars and during their young lives. It illustrates how these processes reveal themselves from radio wavelengths to high energy X-rays and gamma -rays, with special reference towards high energy signatures. Several sections devoted to key analysis techniques demonstrate how modern research in this field is pursued.

Using the kind permission given to me by my co-author, this short preface will be written in my name. I want to devote this book to San Juan city in Argentina. It is not only due to the fact that the city was twice completely destroyed after the devastating ear- quakes in 1941 and 1977, but also because my stay there completely changed my life. Changes included changing my career from the field of space plasma physics to Earth sciences and geophysics, and changes in my personal life giving me h- piness and compliance in my present family. Going back to the subject of the book, it should be noted that the history of the question asked by the book is very complicated and intricate. Starting in the 1930s from the observation of seismogenic electric fields, the area of seismo-ionospheric coupling became an area of fighting and conflicts, hopes and frustrations. Spe- lation and misunderstanding on the interdisciplinary borders made this field for many years (even up to now) taboo for so-called "serious scientists." But due to the courageous efforts of several groups in Russia and the former USSR states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Japan, later France and Taiwan, Greece and Italy the situation started to improve.

My goal in writing this book was to provide an introduction to meteorite science and a handbook on meteorite classification. Insofar as I succeeded it should prove useful both to the practicing professional and to university students at the upper-division and graduate levels. I originally intended the book to be nearly twice as long. The second half was to be a review of properties relating to the origin of each group of meteorites. Chapter XVIII is an example of how these later chapters would have looked, although most would not have been as interpretative. These chapters would have been useful chiefly to meteorite researchers looking for a quick summary of group properties; they were not written because of lack of time. Perhaps I will start to prepare this "second volume" in a year or so when my family and I have recovered from the preparation of the present volume. Although some parts of the classification portion are mildly icono clastic, I have attempted either to avoid the inclusion of speculative interpretations or to flag them with a caveat to the reader. I have relaxed these principles somewhat in Chapter XVIII to conserve space, but even there the discussion of alternative speculations should give the reader a feeling for the degree of uncertainty attached."

TO THE SECOND EDITION In the nine years since this book was first written, rapid progress has been made scientifically in nuclear fusion, space physics, and nonlinear plasma theory. At the same time, the energy shortage on the one hand and the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn on the other have increased the national awareness of the important applications of plasma physics to energy production and to the understanding of our space environment. In magnetic confinement fusion, this period has seen the attainment 13 of a Lawson number nTE of 2 x 10 cm -3 sec in the Alcator tokamaks at MIT; neutral-beam heating of the PL T tokamak at Princeton to KTi = 6. 5 keV; increase of average ss to 3%-5% in tokamaks at Oak Ridge and General Atomic; and the stabilization of mirror-confined plasmas at Livermore, together with injection of ion current to near field-reversal conditions in the 2XIIss device. Invention of the tandem mirror has given magnetic confinement a new and exciting dimension. New ideas have emerged, such as the compact torus, surface-field devices, and the EssT mirror-torus hybrid, and some old ideas, such as the stellarator and the reversed-field pinch, have been revived. Radiofrequency heat ing has become a new star with its promise of dc current drive. Perhaps most importantly, great progress has been made in the understanding of the MHD behavior of toroidal plasmas: tearing modes, magnetic Vll Vlll islands, and disruptions.

Despite its apparent unchanging appearance in the daytime sky, the Sun is incredibly dynamic and shrouded in mystery. In this guide, Dr. Ryan French explores history, science, and modern observations to uncover the mysteries of the Sun.

From ancient astronomers who hailed the Sun as a deity, to new age space exploration, the way we observe the Sun has come a long way. Humanity’s scientific journey to understand the Sun has included many intriguing and humorous tales from over the centuries. In today’s age, it is far easier to become a sun observer. Learn about cutting-edge space observations of the Sun and how to access these images from home. Uncover further methods of observing the Sun safely from your own back garden using off-the-shelf solar telescopes, DIY pin-hole cameras and solar projectors.

The perfect gift for anyone wishing to learn more about our local star.

One of the greatest scientific and technological achievements of the 21st century will be to cast a light on the eternal darkness of the deep ocean and this book identifies the key determinants of life or death in its extreme environment. Dr. Erik Seedhouse examines how individuals survive free dives to 200m, how humans adapt to breathing exotic gas mixes at depths exceeding 700m, and how technological innovation will enable humans to enter unendurable realms. The book describes the problems unique to the hostile environment of the deep ocean, such as decompression sickness, discusses how the human body responds to increased pressure, and what happens when adaptive mechanisms fail. Ocean Outpost describes how the technology will evolve, how crews will be selected and trained and what a typical underwater mission will entail. The book also chronicles the frontiers of diving medicine that will eventually take humans into the midst of a world we could once only guess at.

The 34th Saas-Fee advanced course of the Swiss Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics (SSAA) took place from March 15 to 20, 2004, in Davos, on the subject of The Sun, Solar Analogs and the Climate. PresentlytheSwissmountainresortofDavosisprobablymostwellknown for hosting an event on globalization. However, it is because Davos also happens to be the seat of the Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos and World Radiation Center, that this course on a "global" subject was hosted here. Exceptionally, the topic of this course was not purely astrophysical, but themembersoftheSSAAdecidedtosupportitallthesameduetothetimely topic of global warming and its possible link to solar variations. In these times of concern about global warming, it is important to und- stand solar variability and its interaction with the atmosphere. Only in this way can we distinguish between the solar and anthropogenic contributions to the rising temperatures. Therefore, this course addressed the observed va- ability of the Sun and the present understanding of the variability's origin and its impact on the Earth's climate. Comparing the solar variability with that of solar analog stars leads to a better understanding of the solar activity cycle and magnetic activity in general, and helps us to estimate how large the solar variations could be on longer time scales. Inspiteofthefantasticweatherandsnowconditionswhichreignedduring this week, the participants assiduously took part in the lectures. This is proof ofthehighqualityofthelecturesthatthethreespeakers, JoannaHaigh, Mike Lockwood and David Soderblom, delivered. We deeply thank them for their contributions and e?orts and hope that the readers will enjoy the book as much as we enjoyed their lectures.

This volume, like the others, not only focuses upon the individual missions within the decade but also upon key challenges facing human space exploration at specific points within those years - from the problems of simply breathing and eating in space to the challenges of venturing outside in a pressurized spacesuit, the development of newer and better space toilets, and the difficulties of locomotion on the Moon. The Eighties was a time when traveling into space far more commonplace. Examining in detail the American and Soviet fronts, Ben Evans gives a comprehensive analysis of the varying fortunes of the U.S. space shuttle in the Eighties, including its early test flights and commercial flights, its problems, the 51L tragedy and its aftermath, and the resumption of operations with STS-26. The U.S. story ends with STS-37 in April 1991. In the Soviet sphere, two pivotal space station efforts - Salyut 7 and its succesor, Mir - are considered, showing how they were alike and different.

This book analyses the rationale and history of space programs in countries of the developing world.

Space was at one time the sole domain of the wealthiest developed countries. However, the last couple of decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century have witnessed the number of countries with state-supported space programs blossom. Today, no less than twenty-five developing states, including the rapidly emerging economic powers of Brazil (seventh-largest), China (second-largest), and India (fourth-largest), possess active national space programs with already proven independent launch capability or concrete plans to achieve it soon.

This work places these programs within the context of international relations theory and foreign policy analysis. The author categorizes each space program into tiers of development based not only on the level of technology utilised, but on how each fits within the country s overall national security and/or development policies. The text also places these programs into an historical context, which enables the author to demonstrate the logical thread of continuity in the political rationale for space capabilities generally.

This book will be of much interest to students of space power and politics, development studies, strategic studies and international relations in general.

The accretion process is thought to play a key role in the Universe. This book explains, in a form intelligible to graduate students, its relation to the formation of new stars, to the energy release in compact objects and to the formation of black holes. The monograph describes how accretion processes are related to the presence of jets in stellar objects and active galactic nuclei and to jet formation. The authors treat theoretical work as well as current observational facts. This volume of the highly esteemed Les Houches series is meant as an advanced text that can serve to attract students to exciting new research work in astrophysics.

The Soviet-American race to land the first man on the Moon was a technical challenge unlike anything in modern human history. BBC Aerospace Correspondent Reginald Turnill covered the story, and his reports were heard and seen by millions worldwide. With unparalleled access to the politicians, scientists, and technicians involved in the race to the Moon, Turnill knew all the early astronauts--Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin--as they pioneered the techniques that made the Moon landings possible. He became a friend of Dr. Wernher von Braun, the German rocket pioneer and mastermind behind the technology. Turnill's unique eyewitness account of one of the most thrilling adventures of the twentieth century is clearly written and is packed with action and drama, making this a fascinating read for all those interested in the story of the race to the Moon. Reginald Turnill started work in Fleet Street at the age of 15, and by 19 he was covering the national news as a Press Association staff reporter. After joining the BBC in 1956 he covered the launch of Sputnik 1 and found it so exciting that he made space reporting his speciality. As the BBC Aerospace Correspondent, Turnill spent the rest of his career covering all the manned space missions as well as planetary missions like Mariner, Pioneer, Viking, and Voyager. Since leaving the BBC staff, Turnill has continued to broadcast and write on space, and he created the first spaceflight directory. Turnill is the only non-American to have been presented with NASA's Chroniclers Award for contributions to public understanding of the space program.

Planetary Aeronomy is a modern and concise introduction to the underlying physical and chemical processes that govern the formation and evolution of the upper atmospheres of planets. The general approach employed permits consideration of the growing number of extrasolar planets, the detailed observation of which will become possible over the next decades. The book explains the physics behind many atmospheric processes, which are relevant for the evolution of planetary atmospheres and their water inventories, and also contains useful scaling laws and analytical expressions that can be applied to any planet. Readers thus gain insight into the evolution of terrestrial planets and their long-time habitability, atmospheric stability, etc. This volume can be used both as graduate textbook for students wishing to specialize in the field as well as succinct compendium for researchers in the field.

Micrometeorites played an essential role in the formation of the atmosphere of the Early Earth and also served as a significant source of activation for organic prebiotic chemistry on mineral surfaces. The present book gives a coherent account of this scenario, embedding the more specific results within a broader framework that considers the creation and evolution of the Early Earth. It thus addresses students and nonspecialist researchers in the fields of planetary atmospheres, biogeophysics and astrobiology. The experienced researcher will find this volume to be a modern and compact reference, as well as a source of material for lectures in this field.

In the recent years, space-based observation methods have led to a subst- tially improved understanding of Earth system. Geodesy and geophysics are contributing to this development by measuring the temporal and spatial va- ations of the Earth's shape, gravity ?eld, and magnetic ?eld, as well as at- sphere density. In the frame of the GermanR&D programmeGEOTECHNO- LOGIEN, researchprojectshavebeen launchedin2002relatedto the satellite missions CHAMP, GRACE and ESA's planned mission GOCE, to comp- mentary terrestrial and airborne sensor systems and to consistent and stable high-precision global reference systems for satellite and other techniques. In the initial 3-year phase of the research programme (2002-2004), new gravity ?eld models have been computed from CHAMP and GRACE data which outperform previous models in accuracy by up to two orders of m- nitude for the long and medium wavelengths. A special highlight is the - termination of seasonal gravity variations caused by changes in continental water masses. For GOCE, to be launched in 2006, new gravity ?eld analysis methods are under development and integrated into the ESA processing s- tem. 200,000 GPS radio occultation pro?les, observed by CHAMP, have been processed on an operational basis. They represent new and excellent inf- mation on atmospheric refractivity, temperature and water vapor. These new developments require geodetic space techniques (such as VLBI, SLR, LLR, GPS) to be combined and synchronized as if being one global instrument.

The editors present a state-of-the-art overview on the Physics of Space Weather and its effects on technological and biological systems on the ground and in space. It opens with a general introduction on the subject, followed by a historical review on the major developments in the field of solar terrestrial relationships leading to its development into the up-to-date field of space weather. Specific emphasis is placed on the technological effects that have impacted society in the past century at times of major solar activity. Chapter 2 summarizes key milestones, starting from the base of solar observations with classic telescopes up to recent space observations and new mission developments with EUV and X-ray telescopes (e.g., STEREO), yielding an unprecedented view of the sun-earth system. Chapter 3 provides a scientific summary of the present understanding of the physics of the sun-earth system based on the latest results from spacecraft designed to observe the Sun, the interplanetary medium and geospace. Chapter 4 describes how the plasma and magnetic field structure of the earth's magnetosphere is impacted by the variation of the solar and interplanetary conditions, providing the necessary science and technology background for missions in low and near earth's orbit. Chapter 5 elaborates the physics of the layer of the earth's upper atmosphere that is the cause of disruptions in radio-wave communications and GPS (Global Positioning System) errors, which is of crucial importance for projects like Galileo. In Chapters 6-10, the impacts of technology used up to now in space, on earth and on life are reviewed.

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.