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OCR for page 74
8
Interdisciplinary Studies
Before this study began it was already clear that there would
be some overlapping interests among the various disciplinary task
groups. From the beginning of the study, the task groups were
urged to join forces with each other in identifying problems of com-
mon interest, either intrinsically or because they required common
means for investigation. This approach proved fruitful. The task
groups in astronomy and astrophysics and in planetary and lunar
exploration recognized their common interest in understanding the
processes by which planetary systems develop. Both groups, there-
fore, emphasize developing techniques to observe such systems as
they are being born and when they are mature. The astronomical
and the relativity disciplines both appreciate the potential signif-
icance to cosmology that objects such as black holes or cosmic
strings may have. Additionally, detection of gravitational radia-
tion is important to the field of relativity theory and, as another
means of understanding fundamental cosmological processes, to
astronomy as wed.
Solar studies were another area where interdisciplinary links
were evident. The Sun is an object of great interest to astronomers
as well as to solar and space plasma physicists. Likewise plasmas,
representing the dominant form of matter in the universe, are of
intense interest to solar scientists, solar system physicists, and
74
OCR for page 75
75
astronomers alike. Planetary sci~nt~ts, solar and space plasma
physicists, and relativists Al have requirements for spacecraft that
orbit Mercury and that approach within a few solar radii of the
Sun. This common interest accords a higher priority to such
· e
missions.
Earth scientists and life scientists alike could have designed
the Mission to Planet Earth. The configuration of that mission has
been determined by contributions from the earth science and life
science task groups. As well, life scientists share with planetary
scientists an interest in understanding how life developed ~ tints
solar system and whether or not it exists elsewhere. It is not
possible to understand Earth by studying it in isolation and out
of its context as one of the terrestrial planets, each of which has
followed a different evolutionary track.
This list of interdisciplinary projects is not exhaustive. How-
ever, it should demonstrate that a balanced space science program
in which multidisciplinary investigation can flourish should be
mamta~ned during the next century.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
space plasma
