Transcript ppt

Space Plasma Physics
Yi-Jiun Su
• Space Age started in late 50s - early 60s.
• Explorer 1 was the first American satellite lunched
in 1958, and by virtue of its discovery of the Van
Allen radiation belts.
• How do we distinguish between Astrophysics and
Space Physics?
Auroral light is produced at a height of about 100 km (60 miles)
when energetic particles, arriving from space, slam into atoms
and molecules of the atmosphere.
Saturn Aurora
Jupiter Aurora
region
region
J
J
Simulation result
President Bush Announces New Vision for Space
Exploration Program (Jan. 14, 2004)
Returning to the
…………………
MOON is an important step for our space program.
With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be
ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to
MARS and to worlds beyond.
Discovery of an aurora on Mars
Bertaux et al., Nature, 534, 790, 2005.
Currently Funded by NASA
Two Pending Proposals
http://www.uta.edu/physics/research/su
Office: Science Hall 107B