Research carried out by members of the Division covered a wide range of topics. The activities evolved adiabatic-ally, being influenced to a large extent by the evolution of the ESA science programme (e.g. selection of Rosetta investigations), but was limited by the scientists' time available for research in the presence of a further increased workload caused by projects and studies.
As reflected in the layout of Chapter 4 of the report, research in the Solar System Division includes the development of flight instrumentation as well as the analysis and interpretation of observational data and modelling. As in the past, almost all research activities, especially those involving hardware development or observation programmes, have been undertaken in cooperation with other research institutions. In the reporting period, flight instrumentation for Huygens (Titan atmosphere and surface), Equator-S (energetic particles and potential control) and Hitchhiker (solar constant) was completed for launch in 1997. The Division was, as were many other science institutes in Europe, severely hit in 1996 by the Cluster and Mars 96 launch failures, which lost instrumentation that had been developed over the previous few years. New flight instrument developments were started in 1996, after several proposals with divisional involvement were selected for the Rosetta mission. This includes, most notably, Atomic Force Microscopy to image submicron cometary particles close to the Rosetta target comet. A new way to apply products of the ESA technological research programme directly to space instrumentation started in 1996 when the Division entered a partnership with the ESA Technical Directorate in the development of the Data Processing Unit for the Rosetta scientific imaging system.
Section 4.2 addresses the most important achievements of research in the Solar System Division and should give a feel for the breadth and quality of the research work of divisional members in 1995 and 1996.
In the area of solar research, the centre of activities clearly shifted from ESTEC to GSFC and to SOHO. The Luminosity Oscillation Imager (LOI) developed in the Division provides excellent data on solar p-modes and is a good tool for continuing the search for solar gravity modes. Divisional members of the science operations team and Research Fellows participate in several research projects involving correlative analysis of data from several SOHO instruments. One staff member, strongly supported by research students, has been very active in the MUSICOS programme, both with hardware development and astronomical observations.
In the area of space plasma physics, the positive highlights of the reporting period are undoubtedly the Ulysses results and Wind observations. The former include the measurements of energetic charged particles over the full range of southern and northern solar latitude, which led to the discovery of a recurrent particle population extending up to high latitude and the confirmation of a weak positive latitude gradient of various elements of the anomalous component of cosmic rays. Analysis of data from the Polar, Interball and Tether missions fill the gap that the loss of Cluster created.
In the area of planetary research, cometary observations in preparation of Rosetta and cosmic dust studies have been prime areas of activity.
Research in fundamental physics has been intensified with specific design studies contributing to preparations for MiniSTEP. Most prominent is the development of the drag-free control system, in collaboration with Stanford University.
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