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- Written by: Marius Mihai Echim
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Project PLATINUM builds on the expertise of space plasma scientists at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) and the scientific synergies with Belgian and international partners in the field of space plasma turbulence and complexity. The project is devoted to study the planetary plasma response to variability and turbulence induced by interplanetary extreme events and transients (e.g., Corotating Interaction Regions - CIR, Coronal Mass Ejections – CME). Turbulence is a strategic topic at BIRA-IASB who became a European center of expertise in the field. The Institute was the promoter and principal investigator of the European FP7 project STORM devoted to this theme (http://www.storm-fp7.eu) and has leading role in various scientific studies published in highly ranked international journals.
The project targets applying advanced data analysis tools (e.g., statistical analysis based on Probability Density Functions - PDFs, multifractal analysis, information theory based approaches) to be applied on plasma and electromagnetic field data provided by planetary and terrestrial space missions. The data analysis for interplanetary transients and characterization of solar activity is provided by the Royal Observatory of Belgium (team led by Dr. Luciano Rodriguez) and is complemented by advanced numerical simulations tailored to describe the couplings between planetary plasma turbulence and intermittency and the interplanetary variability. The numerical simulations are performed in collaboration with the team led by Prof. Fabio Bacchini from the Catholic University Leuven and the International team led by Dr. Eliza Teodorescu (Institute of Space Science Romania). Prof. Fabio Bacchini replaced in 2024 Prof. Giovani Lapenta who sadly passed away.
PLATINUM's main objective is a scientific investigation of the topology and properties of the planetary plasma turbulence and intermittency and how these properties changes in response to the external driving provided by the variable solar wind. The project benefits from satellite data provided by the European ESA missions Cluster and Venus Express, and NASA MMS, THEMIS, MAVEN. The project is also relevant for other current and future European space exploration initiatives (e.g. Solar Orbiter, SMILE, Bepi Colombo) where Belgium is involved at various levels (hardware, software, data analysis).