As the youngster among the space science faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy - I was born just four days after the launch of Explorer 1 - I've been asked to talk about the future of space science at the University of Iowa and to describe how the space science effort founded by Professor Van Allen will continue. Simply stated, the future is bright. Currently, we have a broad range of ongoing programs with experiments (from near to far) on the Polar spacecraft, the four Cluster spacecraft, the Geotail spacecraft, the Mars Express spacecraft, the Cassini spacecraft, and the Voyager spacecraft. Theoretical work to understand the data from these missions goes hand-in-hand with the data they send back.

But there is still more to come! When I think of the Van Allen legacy, I think of the early days: rockoons, then the radiation belts discovered with Explorer 1, and the work continued on into the heliosphere with planetary missions such as the Pioneers and Voyagers. As it turns out, the future here at Iowa continues on in all of these directions!

On the rocket side, we have a strong sounding rocket program that is training the next generation of instrumenters. Students get to build, test, fly, and then analyze data from experiments that they themselves do the work on. We have one rocket flying this coming winter from Alaska to make measurements of Earth's aurora - also a topic of early research by Professor Van Allen - and two more rockets flying as a pair from Norway in the fall of next year to investigate the physics of Earth's polar cusps. We don't have to use balloons to get the needed altitude anymore, but the spirit of giving students hands-on experience has not changed.

Exploring the heliosphere will continue with the Juno mission which will orbit Jupiter, but for this first time, in a polar orbit. Our department has a key wave experiment that will make measurements in parts of space around Jupiter that have never been visited by any spacecraft before. New discoveries will certainly result. The exploration of the solar system, for which our department is famous, will continue.

And, the radiation belts, that is, the Van Allen radiation belts, are by no means forgotten. We were notified last month that the University of Iowa was selected as the lead institution for a pair of experiments that will fly on NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes spacecraft. This mission will fly a pair of identical spacecraft dedicated to radiation belt studies. The goal is to return to the radiation belts to investigate the detailed physics of how they are created and depleted. More that 45 years later, we still have much to learn about discovery that Professor Van Allen made in 1958!

Our plate is by no means empty - we will be busy with science that Professor Van Allen brought to the University of Iowa for many years to come.

In closing, I'd like to switch from the scientist Professor Van Allen to Professor Van Allen the person. Sometime within the first couple of years of joining the department, I was riding in the elevator when Prof. Van Allen got on carrying a stack of New York Times newspapers. He, along with many others in the department, was an avid newspaper reader and had his copy delivered along with several others to the office. Apparently these newspapers had been dropped off at the loading dock, he had spotted them, and was bringing them up to the departmental office. When I saw him with the papers, I said to him, "I'll bet you used to do that when you were a kid." Without missing a beat, he fired back, "Yeah, but I used to get paid for it."

That is how I will remember him - a great scientist without question, but also one who didn't take himself too seriously and had a great wit. He will be missed.

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