Plasma Kinetics Issues in the ESA ‘Plasma Laboratory in Space’ Study

The European Space Agency has initiated, in the context of its General Studies Programme, an investigation of the possible use of space for studies in pure and applied plasma physics, in areas not traditionally covered by “space plasma physics”. A team of experts has been set-up to review the possible experiments that could be undertaken and the plasma phenomena they may address. As broad a view as possible has been taken in order to address potential applications in plasma physics, industrial plasma physics and other terrestrial plasma domains including pure plasma physics, as well as astrophysical and solar-terrestrial areas. A preliminary discussion was performed in order to select the most promising experiments and to exclude those issues that can be studied on the International Space Station and therefore do not require a dedicated platform. As a result of this selection work, a number of the most promising experiments have been further investigated.