Welcome to the IACG Home Page

The Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) for Space Sciences was formed in 1981 and until 1986 coordinated the six space missions to Halleys Comet, undertaken by its four member agencies (in alphabetical order): the European Space Agency(ESA), the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan, the then Intercosmos Council of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, now the Russian Space Agency (IKI), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). During its first five years, the IACG demonstrated an ever-growing usefulness for the various Halley flight projects both as a focal point for discussion of common problems, and mutual support to enhance the overall scientific return.

At its sixth meeting in Padua, Italy on 4 November 1986, the IACG decided to adopt Solar-Terrestrial Science as its next project for inter-agency coordination and agreed on the Terms of Reference. The IACG used panels and working groups to carry out its work.

At the 16th Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) meeting held from December 10-11, 1996, at Cape Canaveral, Florida the IACG created a new organizational structure to enable it to maximize the return of existing and future missions throughout the solar system.

The objectives of the IACG are to maximize opportunities for multilateral scientific coordination among approved space science missions in areas of mutual interest. The IACG is a multi-agency international forum in which space science activities are discussed on an informal basis among representatives of the member agencies.

IACG Campaigns

The new focus of IACG activity is the coordination of each agency's planned missions by planning and conducting scientific campaigns. Each of these addresses a set of specific questions on the solar-terrestrial environment and its processes. These campaigns will be accomplished over several periods when spacecraft positions are particularly favorable during the 1990's. Only in the context of the international IACG framework can such sustained multi-mission coordination, involving hundreds of Principal Investigators from many countries, be successfully sustained over several years.

As it is difficult to predict spacecraft constellations far in advance (e.g. due to on going orbit optimizations) a period of several months per campaign is assumed for planning purposes. The multi-mission data taking will occur in one or more short intervals (days to weeks) within the longer period.

Four campaigns have so far been identified:

The First IACG Campaign - Magnetotail Energy Flow and the Role of Non-Linear Dynamics

Lead Coordinator for Campaign 1: Dr. James L Green

 

The Second IACG Campaign - Boundaries in Collisionless Plasma

Lead Coordinators for Campaign 2: Dr. H. Kawano and Dr. S. Savin
Co-Coordinators for Geospace: Dr. I. Sandahl and Dr. N. Maynard

 

The Third IACG Campaign - Solar Events and their Manifestations in Interplanetary Space and in Geospace

Lead Coordinator for Campaign 3: Dr. Richard A. Harrison

Co-Coordinator: Dr. Daniel N. Baker

 

The Fourth IACG Campaign - Solar Sources of Three Dimensional Structures in the Solar Wind

Lead Coordinators for Campaign 4: Dr. Antoinette B. Galvin and Dr. Hugh Hudson

 

The Fifth IACG Campaign - Solar Maximum Science

Lead Coordinators for Campaign 5: To be determined.

 

Additional Information

IACG Organizational Structure

IACG Working Group Contact Information

IACG Meetings

ISTP Rules of the Road

REFERENCES

1. Toward a New Era of Global Solar-Terrestrial Research, The First Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) Campaign: Magnetotail Energy Flow and Non-Linear Dynamics, Report of the Workshop held in Airlie House, USA, June 1-3, 1992, ed. E.C Whipple and H. Lancaster, October 1992.
   
2. International Coordination of Solar Terrestrial Science; E.C. Whipple, H. Lancaster, Space Science Reviews 71: 41-54, 1995.
   
3. Toward a New Era of Global Solar-Terrestrial Research, Second Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) Campaign: Boundaries in Collisionless Plasmas, Report of the Workshop held in Graz, Austria, April 13-15, 1993, December 1993.
   
4. Summary Report on the IACG Workshop on "Solar Sources of Heliospheric Structure Observed out of the Ecliptic", Easton, Maryland, January 27-29, 1994.
   
5. Third Inter-Agency Consultative Group (IACG) Campaign "Solar Events and their Manifiestation in Interplanetary Space and In Geospace" , Report of the Workshop held at Sagamihara, Japan, 31 May to 2 June, 1994, July 1995.
   

Last Modified:Monday, 12-Jan-98
(G.C.G.)