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Research
> Solar
and Planetary hazards |
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Solar and Planetary
hazards, the near and medium-deep space environment of
the Earth - the Sun and the Solar System - and its implications
in the life emergence and survivability |
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The solar system is the
only known astrophysical environment to host life. The
variability of the central star, the Sun, and the wide
diversity of the solar system's planetary environments
offers paradigms to understand and evaluate conditions
for life formation and development on other planetary
systems in the Galaxy and the Universe.
The variability of the central's star output of energy
in a wide spectral range, the variability of the solar/stellar
stream of plasma and electromagnetic field (the stellar/solar
wind) that fills virtually the entire helio-/stellarsphere,
and the variability of the planetary response to the solar/stellar
input are believed to be key ingredients for life formation,
development and durability. With the discovery during
the recent years of an impressive number of exoplanets
(more than 1500 already confirmed) the evaluation and
understanding of the interplanetary and planetary hazards
typical for our solar system is important not only for
understanding our own space environment but also for the
evaluation of chances for life formation in other distant
planetary systems. A notorious example is the comparison
between Venus and Earth: the two planets are virtually
twins (they have approximately the same size, gravitational
attraction, similar orbits), however the Earth is the
cradle of life while Venus is extremely hostile to any
known form of life. We are at the beginning of understanding
the differences in the history of the two planets and
the way they interact(ed) with the Sun and the solar wind.
Incidentally, although it possesses a thick atmosphere,
Venus has no intrinsic planetary magnetic field; the Earth,
however, is protected by the magnetosphere created by
the rather strong geomagnetic field.
In our solar system there are three different classes
of planetary interactions with the stellar wind:
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planets with a strong magnetic
field and no atmosphere/ionosphere (Mercury); |
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planets with an atmosphere but
no intrinsic magnetic field (Venus, Mars); |
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planets with a strong magnetic
field and a thick atmosphere (Earth, outer planets
like Saturn, Jupiter). |
Space weather is a research topic mainly devoted to understanding
and mitigating the terrestrial effects of Sun's variability,
the Solar and planetary hazards put into a broader perspective
the explosive events dangerous for life and technology.
In addition to the evaluation of planetary hability outside
the Solar system, this topic is also relevant for human
space travel, be it to the International Space Station,
to the Moon or to the planet Mars (as envisaged by NASA
for the next decade).
The Institute for Space Sciences has competences in this
field of research. During the last decade the Institute
pursued comparative studies for the response of different
planetary systems to solar wind variability as well as
studies devoted to the variability and turbulence of the
interplanetary environment.
The Institute uses data from Venus Express and Cluster
to study the formation of the thin plasma layer (the magnetopause)
that separates the planetary plasma and field from the
interplanetary environment. One of the results of this
study was highlighted by the European Space Agency as
a breakthrough of the Cluster mission: http://sci.esa.int/cluster/48190-esa-spacecraft-model-magnetic-boundaries/
A national project is currently lead by the Institute
and meant to understand the similarities and differences
between the intermittency observed at the interface of
the two planets with the solar wind: http://www.spacescience.ro/projects/timess/
The Institute is also active in studying the interplanetary
variability, mainly to characterize the structure and
strength of the interplanetary turbulence and the response
of different planetary and cometary plasma systems. The
Institute is member of the European consortium STORM and
participate to the European FP7 project with the same
title: http://storm-fp7.eu/
Contact person: Marius Echim echim [at] spacescience [dot] ro |
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