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Experimental Astronomy

Astrophysical Instrumentation and Methods

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Experimental Astronomy - Published Part 2 of the Special Issue “Voyage 2050 – science themes for ESA’s long-term plan for the science programme: Solar Systems, ours and others”

February 2023

We are pleased to present the Part 2 of the Special Issue “Voyage 2050 – science themes for ESA’s long-term plan for the science programme: Solar Systems, ours and others”, with Guest Editors Karen S. O’Flaherty, Linda J. Tacconi, Christopher S. Arridge, Günther Hasinger, Fabio Favata.

The European Space Agency (ESA), by way of its Science Programme, provides Europe with the tools to be a world leader in space science.  The scientific community defines the Programme through a bottom-up process involving periodic invitations to propose ideas for the most important scientific topics to be addressed in the coming decades. The success of the current Science Programme is built on the Horizon 2000, Horizon 2000+, and Cosmic Vision community consultations, which started in 1984, 1994, and 2005 respectively. The most recent consultation, Voyage 2050, began in 2019 with a call to the community for ideas for science themes that could or should be addressed by 2050. The call generated close to 100 diverse and ambitious ideas, submitted to ESA as White Papers, most of which are included in this two-part Special Issue of Experimental Astronomy.

Read the editorial at:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10686-021-09746-4 (this opens in a new tab)

Access the complete Part 2 of the special issue through the following web page:
https://link.springer.com/collections/ecggeigbgh (this opens in a new tab)

The complete Special Issue will be available for free access for two months starting on February 9th 2023, following its completion.

Our Guest Editors are:

Karen S. O’Flaherty, ESA – ESTEC, The Netherlands
Linda J. Tacconi, Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Germany
Christopher S. Arridge, Department of Physics, Lancaster University, UK
Günther Hasinger, ESA – ESAC, Spain
Fabio Favata, ESA – ESTEC, The Netherlands

Voyage2050 part 2
Inset-top-right: Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.
Top: (left) NASA/JPL-Caltech; (centre) ESO/M. Kornmesser; (right) ESA/Planck Collaboration.
Centre: (left) NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of Idaho; (centre) ESA/Gaia/DPAC; (right) ESA.
Bottom: (left) NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute; (centre) B. Saxton & A. Angelich / NRAO / AUI / NSF / ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); (right) ESO/M. Kornmesser.

This completion of the Part 2 of the Voyage 2050 Special Issue happens in conjunction with two other updates to journal that better positions it within the scope of Multi-messenger Astronomy and Planetary Science research:

- An update to the journal’s Aims and Scope: https://www.springer.com/journal/10686/updates/24004832 (this opens in a new tab)

- We gladly welcome Dr. Peter Wurz and Dr. Marcello Giroletti to the editorial board team: https://www.springer.com/journal/10686/updates/24004844 (this opens in a new tab)

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