The NASA cosmic ray program for the 1990’s and beyond Interim report of the NASA Cosmic Ray Program Working Group

Abstract

The interim report of the 1989 NASA Cosmic Ray Program Working Group is presented. The report summarizes the cosmic ray program for the 1990’s, including the recently approved ACE, Astromag, HNC, POEMS, and SAMPEX missions, as well as other key elements of the program. New science themes and candidate missions are identified for the first part of the 21st Century, including objectives that might be addressed as part of the Human Exploration Initiative. Among the suggested new thrusts for the 21st century are: an Interstellar Probe into the nearby interstellar medium; a Lunar‐Based Calorimeter to measure the cosmic ray composition near ∼10^(16) eV; high precision element and isotope spectroscopy of ultraheavy (Z≥30) elements; and new, more sensitive, studies of impulsive solar flare events.