A novel by Lucsan Twenty years ago a young David Shawdale realised his boyhood dream when he discovered a new star. Now, an astronomer at a university in England, David is surprised when his star begins to exhibit unusual behaviour. Soon an unidentified object is observed coming from the star and heading towards our sun. American intelligence officer Betty 'Bing' Saunders is charged with the task of discovering the nature of the asteroid as it crosses our solar system. When it violently changes course and comes hurtling towards Earth, plunging humanity into chaos and panic as many believe they face their last days. This fast paced, entertaining and thought provoking story spanning seventy years follows four people who's lives are profoundly changed by the asteroid and the mysteries it contains. When it places powerful artefacts in their hands they are taken on a flight of discovery which ultimately reveals the truth about the nature of their universe.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book explores what makes the conditions on Earth 'just right' to sustain life.

This book contains the latest results on the plasma environment of Mars and its interaction with the solar wind. These results include mapping of the plasma environment with the instruments on Mars Express and Mars Global Surveyor, the latest numerical simulations, and theoretical studies. This comprehensive examination of the Mars environment also sets the stage for the interpretation of the Venus Express measurements.

9 MHDTurbulence in the Heliosphere: Evolution and Intermittency 253 Bruno Bavassano, Roberto Bruno and Vincenzo Carbone 1 Introduction 254 2 MHD Turbulence Evolution 255 2. 1 Ecliptic Turbulence 256 2. 2 Polar Turbulence 258 2. 3 Conclusions on Turbulence Evolution 263 3 Intermittency 264 3. 1 Probability Distribution Functions of Fluctuations and Self-similarity 269 3. 2 Radial Evolution of Intermittency 271 3. 3 Identifying Intermittent Events 273 3. 4 Conclusions on Intermittency 277 10 283 Waves and Turbulence in the Solar Corona Eckart Marsch 1 Introduction 284 2 Coronal Magnetic Field Structures 284 3 Magnetic Network Activity and Coronal Heating 287 4 Waves and Flows in Loops and Funnels 290 5 Magnetohydrodynamic Waves and Flux Tube Oscillations 293 5. 1 Observation and Theory 293 5. 2 Oscillations of Thin Flux Tubes 295 5. 3 Wave Amplitudes Versus Height from Numerical Mod- ~ 2~ 5. 4 A Standing Slow Magnetoacoustic Wave 299 6 Plasma Waves and Heating of Particles 301 7 Generation, Transfer and Dissipation of Coronal Turbulence 303 7. 1 Generation of Magnetohydrodynamic Waves 303 7. 2 Wave Energy Transfer and Turbulent Cascade 304 7. 3 Wave Dissipation in the Kinetic Domain 307 7. 4 Origin and Generation of Coronal High-Frequency Waves 308 7.

Space is again in the headlines. E-billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are planning to colonize Mars. President Trump wants a "Space Force" to achieve "space dominance" with expensive high-tech weapons. The space and nuclear arms control regimes are threadbare and disintegrating. Would-be asteroid collision diverters, space solar energy collectors, asteroid miners, and space geo-engineers insistently promote their Earth-changing mega-projects. Given our many looming planetary catastrophes (from extreme climate change to runaway artificial superintelligence), looking beyond the earth for solutions might seem like a sound strategy for humanity. And indeed, bolstered by a global network of fervent space advocates-and seemingly rendered plausible, even inevitable, by oceans of science fiction and the wizardly of modern cinema-space beckons as a fully hopeful path for human survival and flourishing, a positive future in increasingly dark times. But despite even basic questions of feasibility, will these many space ventures really have desirable effects, as their advocates insist? In the first book to critically assess the major consequences of space activities from their origins in the 1940s to the present and beyond, Daniel Deudney argues in Dark Skies that the major result of the "Space Age" has been to increase the likelihood of global nuclear war, a fact conveniently obscured by the failure of recognize that nuclear-armed ballistic missiles are inherently space weapons. The most important practical finding of Space Age science, also rarely emphasized, is the discovery that we live on Oasis Earth, tiny and fragile, and teeming with astounding life, but surrounded by an utterly desolate and inhospitable wilderness stretching at least many trillions of miles in all directions. As he stresses, our focus must be on Earth and nowhere else. Looking to the future, Deudney provides compelling reasons why space colonization will produce new threats to human survival and not alleviate the existing ones. That is why, he argues, we should fully relinquish the quest. Mind-bending and profound, Dark Skies challenges virtually all received wisdom about the final frontier.