Background of the Workshop

The United Nations, in cooperation with national and international space-related agencies and organizations, organized annually since 1990 workshops on basic space science, particularly for the benefit of scientists and engineers from developing nations. Drawing on nearly 15 years of workshops on basic space science, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, through the United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI) will assist scientists and engineers from all over the world in participating in the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) in 2007. Comprehensive information on IHY is available at http://ihy.gsfc.nasa.gov/

The objectives of IHY are to discover the physical mechanisms that drive the coupling of Earth’s atmosphere to solar and heliospheric phenomena. The systematic global study of this interaction is to be the central theme of the IHY. In view of these aims, the objectives for IHY are:

• provide benchmark measurements of the response of the magnetosphere, the ionosphere, the lower atmosphere and Earth surface to identify global processes and drivers which affect the terrestrial environment and climate;
• global study of the Sun-heliosphere system outward to the heliopause to understand the external, and historic drivers of geophysical change;
• foster international scientific cooperation in the study of heliophysical phenomena now and in the future; and
• communicate the unique scientific results of the IHY to the interested scientific community and to the general public.

Programme of the Workshop

The workshop will be structured around the following topics:

• Participation of developing nations in project development for international heliospheric space missions and supporting low-cost ground-based instrument array initiatives for world-wide studies in space science.
• Studies in preparation for the participation of developing nations in IHY 2007.
• Actions, results and practice of the access to data of Sun-Earth system from space missions.
• Space missions in astrophysics and solar system studies: Opportunities and results.
• Concurrent design tools for project development for international space-related projects.
• Scientific results and plans for basic space science initiatives in developing nations.

During the workshop, additional working group sessions will be held to assess past and develop future activities related to the above topics.

Call for Contributed Papers

This workshop will be oriented towards new opportunities for the developing nations to participate actively in global plans for IHY as well as related astrophysics. Efforts will focus on the enormous increase in the understanding of Sun and the heliosphere which has been built up since the occasion of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) in 1957, particularly through the availability of heliospheric missions such as CLUSTER, DOUBLE STAR, FAST, RHESSI, SMART-1, SOHO, STEREO, TRACE, ULYSSES, UARS, WIND, and YOHKOH. Emphasis will be placed on ways and means to make developing nations participate directly in the process of data acquisition and analysis and the use of astrophysical data systems through utilization of the global communications networks under the WWW structure. Contributions that highlight interdisciplinary issues are particularly encouraged. Poster sessions will be organized for the duration of the workshop.

Deadlines

15th April 2006:	On-line Registration and abstract submission opens
1st September 2006:	Closing date for funding applications
31st September 2006:	Closing date for registration and abstract submission
15th October 2006:	Announcement of Final program

Registration fee

There will be a nominal registration fee for all the participants of the workshop at the rate of 100 US dollars per person. Limited funding is available for travel support, specially for young people from universities. For travel support send email to ihy@iiap.res.in

For further details visit www.iiap.res.in/ihy or send an email to ihy@iiap.res.in