Exciting Discoveries and Future Missions Highlight 22nd Annual International Astrophysics Conference in Spain

The 22nd Annual International Astrophysics Conference (AIAC), held this year in the historic city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, brought together leading scientists from across the globe to discuss the latest breakthroughs and challenges in solar wind and local interstellar medium physics. The conference, known for its focus on the universality of physical processes in space plasma physics, drew researchers, students, and mission scientists for a week of presentations, collaboration, and forward-looking dialogue.

At this year’s conference, there were exciting updates from several space missions, including NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP), which completed its closest-ever approach to the Sun on December 24, 2024. This landmark event, along with the upcoming Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) and HelioSwarm missions, served as focal points for many of the presentations and discussions.

“There were very exciting results from the NASA Parker Solar Probe mission that is exploring the deepest parts of the Sun's atmosphere,” says Dr. Gary Zank, the director of the Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), the Aerospace Rocketdyne endowed chair of the Department of Space Science (SPA) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), and the director of AIAC. “These exciting results are shedding light on how the atmosphere of the Sun is heated to well over 1 million degrees, which has been an enduring mystery for over 100 years. Several of our UAH scientists and students were deeply involved in some of these results.”

Attendees listen to scientific discussions and research presentations at the 22nd Annual International Astrophysics Conference.

The AIAC emphasized how distinct yet complementary missions are reshaping our understanding of the Sun and its environment. Zank noted that while Parker Solar Probe investigates the solar wind’s origins near the Sun, IMAP will observe related phenomena near Earth, offering insights into space weather that impacts satellite operations and global communications.

“These are all entirely different missions,” Zank explained. “Parker Solar Probe is exploring the origins of the solar wind, including the generation of shock waves, structures, the driving of magnetized turbulence, accelerating highly energetic particles,and more. All of these will be measured and observed by IMAP at the location of the Earth, and this will feed into our deeper understanding of Space Weather.”

Zank says this has important implications for Earth-bound satellites that are important for communications, navigation, military situational awareness and more. “IMAP is also exploring the boundaries of the solar wind where the solar wind meets the local interstellar medium, which has nothing to do with PSP.”

“HelioSwarm, on the other hand, will be exploring the nature of magnetic turbulence in the solar wind at very small scales. This is typically created in situ by larger scale processes within the solar wind, and these can originate low in the Sun's atmosphere where PSP is exploring,” Zank explained. “Furthermore, HelioSwarm is a configuration of 9 spacecraft unlike the single IMAP and PSP spacecraft, meaning that the kinds of measurements, multi-point, will be completely different. So all of these considerations informed and influenced conversations and scientific directions at the AIAC.”

One of the defining themes of AIAC -  the universality of physical processes such as turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and shock acceleration - was clearly reflected throughout the presentations.

“Certain processes such as turbulence and magnetic reconnection or particle acceleration by shock waves or magnetic islands exist throughout the universe and not just in the solar wind or the Sun's atmosphere,” Zank says. “These processes occur around other stars, in the interstellar medium, and even in different galaxies.”

The conference served as a launchpad for new collaborations and interdisciplinary exploration, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas between early-career researchers and seasoned experts.

“Collaborations and interdisciplinary work are a feature of a conference of this kind -- the meeting is designed to facilitate students and researchers engaging and discussing their work and identifying areas of common interest and where progress and new breakthroughs can be made," says Zank.

Held in Santiago de Compostela, the location itself added to the unique atmosphere of the meeting.

“By being located in a single hotel and having the opportunity to meet in a beautiful, vibrant and culturally rich city means people from all scientific backgrounds and fields want to attend the meeting. This allows one to create a scientifically highly diverse meeting which makes transdisciplinary interactions possible,” Zank says.

Looking ahead, the AIAC is already setting its sights on new frontiers in heliophysics and interstellar studies.

“Every spacecraft that goes to a new region or environment or makes new kinds of measurements, whether multipoint or at unexplored scales, will make exciting discoveries that create new frontiers,” Zank says. “NASA's IMAP will launch in September of this year and we can expect groundbreaking discoveries almost immediately. This will undoubtedly be a major theme of next year's AIAC meeting.”

Zank also shared words of encouragement for prospective students eyeing careers in space science.

“As evidenced by the number of students applying to the program, the opportunities to attend meetings like the AIAC, to be constantly at the frontiers of space science research working with world-class faculty make the Space Science graduate program one of the most exciting programs in the world,” he says.

With fresh insights, collaborative spirit, and a global scientific community pushing boundaries, the 22nd AIAC once again affirmed its reputation as a cornerstone event in the field of space physics.