Although the Earth may be unique in a biological context, it has many features in common with most of the other planets in our solar system. As an example, it was well known that Jupiter was a significant source of radio noise in our near space environment, but is was eventually realized that also the Earth is a very similar emitter of radio noise, the so called auroral kilometric radiation, which has subsequently been studied extensively by instrumented spacecrafts. From a space science point of view, the earth is similar to, rather than distinct from, other planets, and its interaction with the magnetosphere of the Sun can provide information which can be universally applied to many other distant solar systems in the universe. A dedicated effort can take advantage of the relative ease with which the near Earth environment can be probed with scientific satellites and ground based equipment. Basic sciences Most important may be the contribution of plasma sciences to our basic understanding of nature.
Plasma science is particularly rich in the area of non-equilibrium and nonlinear processes.
It was one of the first disciplines to grapple with the relationship between nonlinearity and complexity, a problem that is recognized today as a hallmark of late twentieth century science. The physics of plasmas are studied by theoretical, experimental and numerical methods. The experimental work, in particular, follows several main lines. One is a dedicated fusion oriented effort. These experiments demand such huge investments that international collaboration is mandatory to meet these demands.