This proposal is to support a special issue of IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science and a related international workshop on plasma astrophysics. The Special Issue on Space and Cosmic Plasma will provide an update on research in space plasma physics in the areas of magnetospheric/ionospheric interactions, the magnetospheres of the planets and stars, and the physics of plasma effects related to other astrophysical objects. Special emphasis is placed on laboratory and computer simulation of space plasmas and the application of these results to outstanding problems such as dynamical processes, energy transport, diagnostics, plasma diffusion in the magnetopause, nonlinear interactions, particle acceleration, double layers, critical ionization velocity effect, electric currents, and instabilities in the near-Earth plasma environment. The goal of the Second IEEE Workshop on Plasma Astrophysics is to provide an update on research in space plasma physics in the areas listed above for the Special Issue. The solid foundation that the solar system provides to plasma physics can be extrapolated to plasmas having large-scale astrophysical and cosmological interest.
