NASA Postdoctoral Program - Heliophysics Science: Energy, Momentum, and Particle Entry into the Magnetosphere

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific opportunity focuses on investigating recent spacecraft data to elucidate the mechanisms through which solar-wind, energy, momentum, and particles enter the Earth's magnetosphere. Research topics include studies of the polar cusp, the magnetopause, the plasma sheet, the tail lobe, and the plasma mantle and various boundary layers. Studies are conducted collaboratively using multipoint measurements of magnetic field, plasmas, and electromagnetic waves on different spacecraft. Of special interest are the complex energy and momentum transfer processes that result in the formation and maintenance of the geomagnetic tail and embedded plasma sheet.