|
Issues and Guiding Questions
The study will address a number of broad issues, which are summarized
in the questions listed below. In answering these questions, the members
of the Survey Committee and study panels are charged with "thinking
outside the box" to identify truly new directions in solar and space
physics research and supporting technology.
- Where are the fields of solar and space physics today?
- What are the "frontier topics" that solar and space physics research
programs will address during the decade 2003-2013?
- What space- and ground-based assets will be needed to address
these topics? What new initiatives will be needed in theory and
computation? In engineering and technology?
- Are there activities and facilities (space- and ground-based)
that could be
modified or terminated to facilitate movement in new directions?
- How does solar and space physics research interact with and contribute
to other research fields, such as laboratory plasma physics and
astrophysics?
- How can the basic research programs be effectively linked to
operational needs and applications?
- In what ways, besides space weather applications, can the fields
of solar and space physics contribute practically to society, e.g.,
through the transfer of technology (including computational methods)?
-
What is the appropriate mix of national agencies, academia, and industry
in solar and space physics research?
-
What is the role of solar and space physics in undergraduate and graduate
education? How can these fields most effectively contribute to precollege
science education? To the development of a scientifically aware and
literate public? To the development of a technically trained workforce?
- What priorities follow from the answers to the preceding questions?
|
