Air Force Office of Scientific Research _________________________________________________________________ The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) is charged with directing the Air Force's basic research program. This program includes both engineering and scientific research. The goals of this program are to maintain technological superiority in the scientific and engineering areas relevant to Air Force needs; to prevent technological surprise to our Nation and create it for our adversaries; to maintain a strong research infrastructure composed of Air Force laboratories, industry, and universities; and to complement the national research effort. _________________________________________________________________ OVERVIEW OF THE AIR FORCE OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Today the United States is second to none in military capability. This is a direct result of research and development carried out in the past; it has provided us the necessary technology for the present. Only a vigorous, focused, and diversified research program can provide our Nation with the required depth and scope of options for new and advanced technologies to meet future challenges. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) is charged with directing the Air Force's basic research program. This program includes both engineering and scientific research. The goals of this program are: --to maintain technological superiority in the scientific and engineering areas relevant to Air Force needs; --to prevent technological surprise to our Nation and create it for our adversaries; --to maintain a strong research infrastructure composed of Air Force laboratories, industry, and universities; and --to complement the national research effort. Through grants to university scientists, academic support, contracts for industry research, and support for basic research in Air Force laboratories, funded at more than $200 million for Fiscal Year 93, we support approximately 1,300 grants and contracts to about 350 academic institutions and industrial firms. AFOSR works closely with the Air Force laboratories to transition extramural research to the exploratory development programs of these laboratories. In addition, the laboratories participate in the selection of AFOSR research topics in areas of Air Force needs. To this end, we are encouraging those who prepare proposals to contact appropriate activities in the Air Force laboratories. The Directory section of this pamphlet provides some initial contact points to assist you in this. This pamphlet will guide you in your efforts to participate in our research program. To facilitate the preparation of proposals, the pamphlet is divided into five sections: The Introduction section describes Broad Agency Announcement, the mechanism used by AFOSR to solicit research proposals. It also provides an overview of the general approach used to submit proposals. The Research Interests section describes the basic research AFOSR is interested in sponsoring. The Academic Support Programs section discusses research assistantship programs, faculty programs, and graduate school programs. Most of these programs foster mutual research interests between the Air Force laboratories and institutions of higher education. The Proposal Guidance section represents a reprint of our general Broad Agency Announcement, BAA94-1, which provides detail about the proposal process. The Directory lists the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of AFOSR scientific directors and program managers, Air Force chief scientists, and Air Force laboratory task managers. Anyone qualified to perform research is encouraged to contact AFOSR in accordance with the appropriate BAA and the guidelines given in this pamphlet. We particularly encourage proposals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, minority institutions, and minority researchers. HELMUT HELLWIG Director EXTERNAL AERODYNAMICS AND HYPERSONICS _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: External Aerodynamics and Hypersonics This research program seeks to improve the understanding of viscous and inviscid fluid flow phenomena that strongly influence the mission-requirements-driven design, aerodynamic performance, and efficiency of Air Force flight vehicles. This program compris es three technical thrust areas: advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD), unsteady aerodynamics, and hypersonics. Research should focus on the underlying physical mechanisms that govern these classes of complex flows. Research in advanced CFD is sought to develop autoadaptive, unstructured grid methods. Research is ongoing to develop methods capable of simulating the complex, three-dimensional, time-dependent flows created by aircraft and missile platforms during dynamic combat maneuvers. Research is also sought to address flows with multiple bodies in relative dynamic motion, such as store separation. These full Navier-Stokes simulations include viscous effects that range from laminar, through transitional, to fully turbulent boundary layer states. Of particular importance is the development of advanced LES and DNS methods for high speed, viscous, compressible flows over aircraft and missile components (wings/fins and fuselages), as well as internal flows in supersonic engine inlets and hypersonic SCRAMJET inlet systems. LES methods using spectral element or other DNS subgrid scale simulations are of particular interest. We are also interested in developing analysis capabilities for dynamic, three-dimensional, viscous, hypersonic engine inlet unstart processes. Research in unsteady aerodynamics should reveal the fundamental viscous processes associated with vorticity generation within the boundary layer along wing leading edges, the mechanisms responsible for the transfer of that vorticity through feeding sheets from within the boundary layer into discrete vortices outside the boundary layer, and the convection of those vortices once they are shed from the boundary layer into the free stream flow around and beyond the wing. Research to identify the influence of wing leading-edge geometry and aircraft motion on these processes is also sought. It is critically important to develop nondissipative CFD algorithms that are capable of tracking multiple shed vortices with no diffusive loss of vorticity. This includes phenomena related to vortex convection, vortex surface impingement, and multiple vortex coalescence. Research in hypersonics should improve the understanding of complex, time-dependent, three-dimensional viscous flows with and without finite rate chemistry effects and should advance the accuracy of high-altitude numerical simulation methods. We are especially interested in three-dimensional Burnett-equation numerical methods. Boundary layer stability and transition analyses for flows over hypersonic flight vehicles based on the Burnett equations are of particular interest. Direct numerical simulation methods with rate chemistry are also sought. We are also interested in shock-tunnel research that investigates the fundamental fluid mechanics of high Reynolds number as well as high-enthalpy hypersonic flows at realistic flight conditions. New concepts for hypersonic, high-enthalpy, and high Reynolds number shock tunnels are of particular interest. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Len Sakell Phone: (202)767-4935 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NA Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 0601001 Aerodynamics 1015510 Fluid Flow 0601013 Computational Fluid Dynamics 1015270 Boundary Layers 0601008 Turbulence 1010006 Geometry 0609014 Fluid Mechanics _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com SPACE POWER AND PROPULSION _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Space Power and Propulsion Wide-area surveillance and space-based defense require affordable on-demand, on-schedule launch and orbit transfer vehicles as well as accurate plume prediction models. Research activities fall into two areas: nonchemical orbit-raising propulsion and chemical propulsion. Research in the former area is directed primarily at advanced space propulsion and is stimulated by the need to transfer very large payloads between orbits. It includes studies of the sources of physical (nonchemical) energy and the mechanisms of release. Our emphasis is on understanding electrically conductive flowing gases (plasmas) that serve to convert beamed or electrical energy into kinetic form. Theoretical and experimental investigations are being conducted on the phenomena of energy coupling and the transfer of plasma flows in electrode and electrodeless systems under plasmadynamic environments. Topics of interest include characteristics of pulsed and steady-state plasmas; characteristics of equilibrium and nonequilibrium flowing plasma; characteristics of electrical and hydrodynamic flows; instabilities of plasma bulk and wall layers; interactions of plasma-surface, -electrode, -magnetic, and -electric fields; losses to inert parts; characteristics of plasmas in high-magnetic fields and pressures; and plasma diagnostics (new and unique noninterfering measuring techniques). Research is being conducted on chemical propulsion to predict and suppress combustion instability in solid and liquid rocket systems, to control the complex role of advanced energetic ingredients in solid propellant burning, and to permit the use of metal fuels (studying condensation and oxidation dynamics of metal-atom-doped clusters). _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Mitat A. Birkan Phone: (202)767-4938 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NA Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 0609030 Propulsion 1015625 Launch Vehicles 1015000 Space Sciences 1200000 Energy 1003019 Catalysis & Kinetics 1270105 Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Research 1015805 Propellants _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com QUANTUM ELECTRONIC SOLIDS _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Quantum Electronic Solids The components of this program involve materials that exhibit cooperative quantum electronic behavior, with the primary emphasis on superconductors, and any conducting materials with surfaces that can be modified and observed through the use of scanning, tunneling, and related atomic-force microscopies. The program also deals with device concepts utilizing these materials for electromagnetic detection and signal processing in Air Force systems. The long-standing materials aspects of the program are based on the fabrication, characterization, and electronic behavior of thin films, which can ultimately lead to the discovery of new and improved electronic circuit elements. There is already a strong effort to understand the mechanisms that give rise to superconductivity in selected ceramics and to produce high-quality Josephson tunneling structures. There is also increasing interest in studies to find superconducting behavior in other families of materials, with the hope of discovering such behavior at ever-higher temperatures. This year the program has been expanded to include bulk superconducting materials that can be useful in producing current-carrying wires in power applications. A continuing interest in this program is the search for new electronic device concepts that involve superconductive elements, either alone or in concert with semiconductors and normal metals, while there is new interest in understanding high-power absorption in high-temperature superconducting materials at microwave frequencies. A relatively new (and small) aspect of this program is the inclusion of scanning probe techniques to fabricate, characterize, and manipulate atomic-, molecular-, and nanometer-scale structures, with the goal of producing a new generation of improved sensors and resulting in the ultimate miniaturization of analog and digital circuitry. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Harold Weinstock Phone: (202)767-4933 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NE Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 1009015 Semiconductors 0607077 Quantum Electronics 1013035 Superconductivity 1003001 Atomic & Molecular Structure 1009095 Magnetic Materials 0607009 Electromagnetics _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Atomic and Molecular Physics This program involves experimental and theoretical research on the properties and interactions of atoms and molecules and forms the basic underpinning of a large range of technological applications in navigation, guidance, communications, atmospheric physics, low- and high-altitude nuclear weapons effects phenomenology, directed-energy weaponry, and lasing mechanisms. Topics to be pursued include the following: 1. Trapping and cooling atoms and ions for high-resolution spectroscopy, studying cold-atom collisions, and developing advanced frequency standards. 2. Ultraviolet emission cross sections of atmospheric species by electron impact. 3. Interactions of atoms in strong electric, magnetic, and radiation fields. 4. Atomic physics fundamental to understanding plasma-enhanced deposition and microetching processes. 5. Antiproton capture, confinement, transport, injection, and annihilation processes. 6. Production of antihydrogen. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Ralph E. Kelley Phone: (202)767-4908 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NE Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 0607012 Navigation & Guidance Systems 0405000 Communications 1001050 Atmospheric Physics 1200000 Energy 1013019 Physics, Atomic 1250040 Physics, Molecular 1013034 Spectroscopy _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com PLASMA PHYSICS _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Plasma Physics We are seeking innovative approaches for exploring novel concepts that exploit the collective interactions of charged particles with electromagnetic fields. Our primary areas of interest include the following: 1. Electron-beam-driven sources of high-power microwave and millimeter-wave radiation. 2. Microwave interactions with plasmas. 3. Numerical simulation of plasma phenomena. 4. Plasma propulsion concepts for space platforms. 5. Energy-efficient methods to generate and maintain free electron densities of 10(13) per cc in sea-level air. Research proposals will also be considered for funding under the Exploratory Concepts portion of the DOD/Tri-Service Vacuum Electronics Initiative. That program is seeking novel ideas for military vacuum electronics systems that could be exploited by the U.S. vacuum electronics industry. In addition to technical excellence, successful proposers under this initiative must also demonstrate strong university or industry ties. Proposed concepts must be sensitive to military constraints (i.e., low voltage, compact, lightweight, rugged, and energy efficient). Other plasma research topics will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, in general, this program is not interested in dense (strongly coupled) plasmas nor in space plasmas. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Robert J. Barker Phone: (202)767-5011 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NE Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 1013025 Physics, Plasma 0607009 Electromagnetics 1270225 Radiation Sources 1004043 Computer Simulation & Modelling 0607011 Microwave Theory _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com NEUROSCIENCE _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Neuroscience This program supports basic research on the neurobiology of behavior. The ultimate objective is to understand the neural mechanisms that determine the effectiveness of skilled, healthy persons performing demanding mental and physical tasks. Areas of emphasis are fundamental studies of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying neuronal responsiveness, learning and memory, fatigue, stress, attention, and arousal. A strong focus is on the psychobiology of stress. We encourage studies to determine the neurochemical and behavioral consequences of stress and how to regulate the stress response. We give high priority to investigations that rigorously examine the behavioral consequences of neurochemical regulation. We accept proposals for neurobiological research that does not study behavior but that would clearly further understanding of behavior. We rarely support applied studies of human performance. In conjunction with other programs described in this pamphlet, the neuroscience program may support neurobiological research on visual and auditory information processing, multisensory integration, and higher cognitive functions. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Genevieve M. Haddad Phone: (202)767-5021 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NL Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 1002030 Neuroscience 0414012 Psychobiology 0414015 Behavioral & Experimental Psychology 1002115 Stress Response, Neuroanatomy 0414005 Cognitive Development & Processes _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com CHRONOBIOLOGY _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Chronobiology The objective of the chronobiology program is to elucidate the biological mechanisms responsible for circadian rhythmicity and how they influence behavior relevant to skilled human performance. We seek proposals on the location and function of circadian pacemakers; mechanisms by which pacemakers such as the suprachiasmatic nucleus are entrained or reset; and the sensory, motor, and cognitive manifestations of circadian activity. Experimental approaches involving lesion studies, neurochemistry, molecular biology, neurophysiology, pharmacology, and behavior will address how the circadian timing system is regulated. Studies with vertebrates are of most interest. Reproductive studies will not be considered. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Genevieve M. Haddad Phone: (202)767-5021 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NL Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 0710100 Pharmacology 1002078 Biological Sensor Mechanisms 0414015 Behavioral & Experimental Psychology 0710085 Neurophysiology _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com PERCEPTION AND RECOGNITION _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Perception and Recognition This program supports visual and auditory theory, modeling, and psychophysical research on human adults. The primary objective is to discover and quantitatively model featural processing mechanisms underlying sensory pattern perception and recognition. We encourage multidisciplinary research, particularly if the results can be constrained by behavioral data. Collaboration between psychophysicists and scientists in other disciplines is often valuable. Theoretical efforts are most welcome. The program currently supports theoretical and experimental work on topics related to featural processing and pattern classification, including the visual mechanisms of contrast detection and discrimination, motion, eye movements, color, and stereopsis, as well as auditory mechanisms that underlie recognition, localization, and speech. We also support theory and modeling of neural circuitry in the sensory and sensorimotor pathways of biological systems, primarily in higher vertebrates. Multidisciplinary approaches, as well as models and simulations of the dynamic behavior of neuroanatomically distinct regions, are especially emphasized. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. John F. Tangney Phone: (202)767-5021 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NL Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 0705070 Sensory System 1002046 Vision 0775005 Hearing 0785100 Neuroanatomy 0745047 Neural Stimulation 1002000 Biological Sciences _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com COGNITION _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Cognition This program supports basic research on cognitive processes of individuals and small teams, particularly the performance-related aspects of attention, memory, information processing, learning, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making under stress. The study of these topics under conditions of high workload in training environments or in team situations is especially welcome. The goal of the program is to support theoretical and experimental research that illuminates the fundamental mechanisms underlying human performance. We support research using behavioral methods alone or a combination of behavioral and biological or computational methods. Three special programs provide for collaboration with Air Force laboratory scientists: 1. Center for Learning Ability This effort provides awards for collaboration with scientists at the Armstrong Laboratory outside San Antonio, Texas, a large test facility for research on individual differences in cognitive ability. This unique facility includes 30 test stations with mic rocomputers and associated equipment and a mainframe computer for reducing data. Several hundred new subjects are available for testing each week. One current research project measures individual differences in processing speed and working memory capacity to predict learning performance. Proposers are encouraged to describe other studies related to individual differences in learning ability. Awards will support visits to this facility for collaborative research. 2. Intelligent Teaching This program supports collaboration with scientists at the Armstrong Laboratory to develop theory-based automated instructional techniques. A laboratory of flexible microcomputer-based training delivery systems is available for investigations of training strategies using large samples of subjects. 3. This effort provides access to facilities for team research at the Armstrong Laboratory. Collaborative research and modeling of distributed team decision making and performance is appropriate. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. John F. Tangney Phone: (202)767-5021 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NL Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 1004018 Information Theory 0901053 Problem Solving 0715195 Stress 0411015 Decision Sciences _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com IONOSPHERIC RESEARCH _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Ionospheric Research Our research goal is to define the physical and chemical properties of the Earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere and to determine effects of these properties on Air Force systems operating in or through these regions. Our main interests are understanding the structure and chemistry of the upper atmosphere and the physics and dynamics of the ionospheric region. This effort includes modeling atmospheric tides, solar radiation, high-energy particles, magnetospheric disturbances and their effects on ionospheric dynamics, and electron density structure. While we recognize that measurements and measurement techniques play an important role in this area, we are convinced that significant progress will require programs that carefully combine theory with experiment. In the near term, we will emphasize analyzing information to extract the fundamental physics rather than gathering data. We place the highest priorities on research in ionospheric disturbances; ionospheric physics; plasma turbulence and dynamics; ionospheric-magnetospheric coupling; and ion/neutral structure, chemistry, and transport mechanisms. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Maj. James Kroll Phone: (202)767-5028 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NM Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 1015570 Ionospheres 1013025 Physics, Plasma 1013053 Magnetospheric Phenomena 1015215 Auroras 1001000 Atmospheric Sciences 1013022 Physics, High Energy _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com SPACE SCIENCES _________________________________________________________________ PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Space Sciences The effects of electromagnetic radiation, charged atomic particles, and electric and magnetic fields can endanger the mission and degrade the performance of Air Force systems operating in near-Earth space. Both the ambient and the disturbed space environment can disrupt the detection and tracking of missiles and satellites, distort communications, and interfere with surveillance operations. This research provides basic knowledge of the space environment for the design and calibration of Air Force systems operating in and through space. Experimental and theoretical methods are used to study the following: 1. Solar activity. 2. Solar outbursts and their travel from the Sun to the Earth. 3. The particle and field composition of the space environment, especially the Earth's magnetosphere. 4. Changes in this environment caused by natural and artificial disturbances. 5. The response of spacecraft systems and operations to conditions in space. Current topics of interest include the following: 1. Developing a capability to forecast solar activity--for example, by identifying phenomena on the Sun and in interplanetary space that are associated with perturbations of the aerospace environment. 2. Investigating the production and transport of magnetospheric plasma to understand geomagnetic storm phenomena and to predict the expected charged-particle distributions encountered by Air Force spacecraft. 3. Developing models to simulate wave modes generated during injection of artificial beams into space plasmas. _________________________________________________________________ CONTACT ADDRESS: Name: Dr. Henry R. Radoski Phone: (202)767-5028 Title: Program Manager Office: AFOSR/NM Address: Air Force Office of Scientific Research 110 Duncan Avenue, Suite B115 Bolling AFB, DC 20332-0001 _________________________________________________________________ KEYWORDS: Keycode Keyword 34 Research 1015000 Space Sciences 1001035 Solar Phenomena 1013053 Magnetospheric Phenomena 1015115 Aerospace Environments 1004043 Computer Simulation & Modelling 0607021 Surveillance Systems _________________________________________________________________ comments@fedix.fie.com RESEARCH AREA: SPACE PROPULSION BACKGROUND: In the coming decade, space propulsion will have dramatic impact on space-related defense capabilities of the Air Force. Wide-area surveillance and space-based defense require affordable on-demand/on-schedule launch and orbit transfer vehicles and accurate plume prediction models. Opportunities exist for close collaboration among the fluid mechanics, combustion, heat transfer, solid mechanics, materials, chemistry, and plasma physics basic research areas. Multidisciplinary research issues of interest includedynamic combustion characteristics and chamber compatibility of insensitive, smokeless and highly energetic liquid and solid propellants. Also of interest are methods for a priori design and prediction of solid, liquid or hybrid-fueled rocket boosters, scramjets for hypersonic single- stage horizontal launchers, and affordable, on-schedule, orbit transfer vehicles utilizing plasma propulsion. There is also a need to analyze interactions between exhaust products and the surrounding atmosphere- producing plume signatures and contamination. SCIENCE TO BE ACHIEVED: Propellants: Key issues to be addressed include understanding combustion mechanisms in monopropellants made of new ingredients and combustion mechanisms and interactions between ingredients in composite propellants. Also of interest are catalytic mechanisms to increase burning rates and reduce the pressure exponent, the role of binders in solid combustion, improved constitutive relations describing the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of solid propellants, and bondline chemical diffusion dynamics. Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of structures and spectra, stability and reactivity, and storage and delivery of cluster-confined or cryogenic high energy density materials are of interest. Launch Vehicles: The key issues include propellant combustion response to chamber and injection dynamics, including unknown mechanisms and their coupling. Research should address novel approaches for understanding acceleration effects and two-phase combustion mechanisms and their effects on heat transfer and erosion. It is important to advance our understanding of the transport, mixing and spray characteristics of supercritical reactants in liquid-fueled rockets and scramjets and to incorporate new understanding into predictive computational models. It is also important to verify predictions from these models with real engine data. We must advance our understanding of interactions between chemical energy release and compressible flow to achieve efficient combustion under supersonic conditions. Novel diagnostic techniques for high opacity reacting media present a broad and challenging requirement for fuller understanding of processes governing the performance of propulsion systems. Orbit Transfer Vehicles: The key research issues include cluster formation and ionization in plasma cells for cluster ion propulsion and the formation of microplasmoids through self-generated magnetic fields. Deeper understanding of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, frozen flow, viscous flow, turbulence, and heat transfer losses is needed to increase efficiency and life of arcjets. There is a need to understand arcjet-power processing interactions, to evaluate transport coefficients in the presence of instabilities in magnetohydrodynamic thrusters, and to investigate new electrode designs and materials to minimize erosion. Plume Signatures and Contamination: The key issues to be addressed include identification of the key mechanisms which must be included in a nonequilibrium reacting flow model, determination of appropriate scaling parameters for the design of subscale experiments, determination of appropriate energy-dependent cross sections, and quantification of upper atmospheric free stream and plume gas interactions. POINT OF CONTACT: Dr Mitat A. Birkan (202) 767-4938