____2010 2011 Annual Report Cover Page Imprint Puzzle composed of six images (from the upper left to the lower right): Publisher International Space Science Institute 1. The northern latitudes of Saturn. The true color Hallerstrasse 6 view was taken by the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini space- CH-3012 Bern craft (NASA, JPL, Space Science Institute). Switzerland Tel.: +41 31 631 48 96 2. All-sky image obtained by ESA’s Integral gamma- Fax.: +41 31 631 48 97 ray observatory superposed with an Earth image by E-mail: [email protected] ESA/EUMETSAT’s Meteosat satellite (ESA/IKI Integral Internet: www.issibern.ch Team). Editors 3. Light and Shadow in the Carina Nebula (NASA, Andrea Fischer and Rudolf von Steiger the Hubble Heritage Team). Concept/Layout 4. Detail View of an Ultraviolet Light Source in an Andrea Fischer Old Galaxy (Hubble Space Telescope, NASA). Cover Design 5. The SOHO spacecraft captured the arcing orbit of Andrea Fischer a sungrazing comet as it approached the Sun (January 3, 2010) and evaporated (SOHO/NASA/ Printed by ESA). Länggass Druck AG Länggassstr. 65 6. Detail View: First ESA Faint Object Camera Science 3000 Bern 9 Images The Radio Galaxy PKS 0521-36 (NASA Switzerland Hubble Space Telescope Collection). Table of Contents The International Space Science Institute (ISSI) is an Institute of Advanced Studies where scientists from all over the world meet in a multi- and interdisciplinary setting to reach out for new scientific horizons. The main function is to contribute to the achievement of a deeper understanding of the results from different space missions, ground based observations and laboratory experiments, and adding value of those results through multidisciplinary research. The program of ISSI covers a widespread spectrum of disciplines from the physics of the solar system and planetary sciences to astrophysics and cosmology, and from Earth sciences to astrobiology. 4 From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees 20 Forthcoming Workshops and Forum 5 From the Directors 22 International Teams 7 About the International Space Science Institute 33 International Teams approved in 2011 8 The Board of Trustees 34 Visiting Scientists 9 The Science Committee 36 Events and ISSI in the media at a glance 10 The ISSI Staff 38 Staff Activities 11 Facilities 42 Staff Publications 12 Financial Overview 44 Visitor Publications 13 The Association Pro ISSI 51 Space Sciences Series of ISSI (SSSI) 14 Scientific Activities: The 16th Year 54 ISSI Scientific Reports Series (SR) 15 Forum 55 Pro ISSI SPATIUM Series 16 Workshops 56 ISSI Publications published in the 16th Business Year ISSI Annual Report 2010 | 2011 From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees The Board of Trustees of the International Space Science Institute Foundation consists of two kinds of members: Delegated members and elected members. A number of organizations, authorities and societies are entitled by the Deed to delegate a member of the Board. There are no rules as to the age or term of office of these delegates. Besides them, the Board co-opts five members by election from among the worldwide community of space scientists. These elected members can serve two consecutive terms of three years. This year has seen an unusual rejuvenation. Of the thirteen members, no less than five have left the Board by the end of the business year. These are Claude Nicollier, Klaus Pretzl, Johannes Ortner, David Southwood and Hanspeter Schneiter. In the name of the whole ISSI community I would like to thank all these gentlemen for their dedication and loyalty to the International Space Science Institute. The latter three have served on the Board since the very beginning in 1995, Hanspeter Schneiter as the founding Chairman until 2008. Thank you all for your service! Replacing the five retirees we have six new members! How can that be? In the spring meeting of 2011 the Board decided to invite NASA to nominate a delegate like they had in the first years of ISSI. NASA complied and nominated Lennard A. Fisk, who had been an elected Board member. So, we had to fill an additional vacancy. The new members are: Daniel Fürst, nominated by the Founder as successor to Hanspeter Schneiter Alvaro Giménez, nominated by ESA as successor to David Southwood Rosine Lallement, elected by the Board André Maeder, elected by the Board Nicolas Thomas, new President and ex officio delegate of the Pro ISSI Association Sergio Volonté, elected by the Board. I welcome these new members and wish them many exciting hours of lively exchange on the mission of ISSI. Thank you for your willingness to serve! The coming year will be crucial. A new proposal for the financing for the next four years has to be submitted to the Swiss Government. Considering the volatile financial situation of all public entities in Europe and beyond, the Board has decided to review the basics of its strategy. They will meet in an extraordinary strategic two-day session in September of this year. The scope of this session is wide open. Whatever strategy will come out as a result of that meeting it will have to be robust enough to make it through possibly stormy times and to realize opportunities that may arise. You will read more here next year. For the Board of Trustees Simon Aegerter Wollerau, August 24, 2011 From the Directors 4/5 As mentioned last year in the previous issue of the annual report, a great deal of effort was dedicated in the course of this 16th year in reflecting on the future evolution of the Institute. While the role and aims of the Institute remain unchanged, unless the ISSI Board decides otherwise, the environment in which the Institute serves the space sciences community is evolving. After 16 years, the success of ISSI can be measured through an increasing set of activities and the full use of all the various tools that ISSI offers, as well as through the number of visitors and the impact factor of the Space Sciences Series of ISSI. The ISSI volumes are highly cited and perceived as useful references to the status of a particular field: in 2010, papers from all existing SSSI volumes were cited a total of 1823 times, with individual volumes collecting between a few and 188 citations. The two-year impact factor of Space Science Reviews (from which the ISSI volumes are reprinted) has developed very satisfactorily: 4.59 for 2009 and 4.43 for 2010. It should be noted that after 15 years of uninterrupted service and in the spirit of a very fruitful cooperation, our contractual agreement with ESA Publication Division, whereby ESA played the role of Editor for the ISSI Report Series mostly used to publish the outcome of the ISSI Working Groups, came to a stop. Negotiations with Springer, the Editor of the Space Sciences Series of ISSI, were concluded positively ensuring a proper continuation of that service and allowing commercializing the distribution of these books worldwide. All efforts are undertaken to avoid an interruption of the service through that transition. Some 771 scientists participated in ISSI in the course of last year of which 352 were there for the first time and among which were 95 young scientists offering a good evidence of the success of the Young Scientist program of ISSI. The response to the call for International Teams reached a new record with 73 proposals received of which 23 were approved by the Science Committee at its June meeting. Four ISSI Workshops were organized this year and detailed descriptions of each one are given in the body of the report. Noteworthy is the balance between topics as one Workshop is the first of the series of three recommended by the Superconveners in charge of following the conclusions of the ISSI Forum on the «Future of Magnetospheric Research» held in March 2009, another one concerns Earth sciences and one was organized in the framework of Europlanet. Noteworthy in a context of changes in the structures and organizations of our supporting administrations is the excellent atmosphere and spirit of cooperation ISSI enjoys, in particular with the Swiss Government as illustrated with the remarkable discussions held with the Secretary of State Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, with the Swiss Space Office and with ESA at the highest level. Our international partners are also re-enforcing their role and involvement as illustrated by the important nomination by the NASA Administrator of a NASA represen- tative in the ISSI Board, by the financial contribution of the Russian Academy of Sciences to the ISSI budget and last but not least by the large delegation of Chinese scientists in the ISSI Forum on the “Future Out-of- Ecliptic and In Situ Observations of the Sun” held last year where they presented their ambitious Solar Polar Orbiting Radio Telescope concept that was the rationale for organizing the Forum. These facts offer a good illustration of the regularly growing success of the ISSI concept established 16 years ago which was to provide a new and original tool helping the space sciences community to fully exploit the outcome of the set of results obtained with the satellites launched by the main spacefaring nations of the world. This success must be analyzed in a context of capped budgets and resources rendered even more severe as a consequence of the depreciation of the Euro (the currency in which the ESA Space and Earth sciences contributions are paid to ISSI) with respect to the Swiss Franc (the currency mostly used to pay ISSI expenditures). In that context, as mentioned in last year’s report, ISSI started an in depth reflection on its future strategy in ISSI Annual Report 2010 | 2011 From the Directors view also of presenting in 2012 its multi-annual budget request to the Swiss Space Office and to ESA.