Science
Our main scientific goal is to study
- how the interplanetary medium affects and shapes bodies in the
inner solar system,
- how plasma physical processes determine the structure of the
interaction regions, and
We explore
near-planetary/asteroid/comet environment, defined as
the
region where the body's atmosphere, ionosphere, and fields are dominant
and interact with the interplanetary medium, including its dust
population.
We focus our research on the terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus,
Earth,
and Mars, and their satellites. Studies of the solar wind interaction
with comets, asteroids, and dust plasma physic complete the picture.
Also we
intend to study the astrobiological consequences of the solar wind
interaction,
in particular, for Mars and Earth using our knowledge of planetary
environment.
More specifically, we want to address the following questions:
- How the solar wind interacts with
non-magnetized bodies, with or
without an atmosphere (Venus, Mars, Moon, asteroids, comets).
- How the solar wind affects the
evolution of bodies in the inner
solar system (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Earth, asteroids, comets).
- How the solar wind and
interplanetary medium could affect the
origin
and evolution of life on Mars and Earth.
- How the planetary magnetospheres
responds to the solar wind
variations on a global scale (Earth, Mercury).
- What is common and what is different
in the magnetospheres of
different bodies (comparative magnetosphere studies).
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Last update 2016-01-18 15:57
by Moa Persson
