Guest Editorial The Past, Present, and Future of Electromagnetic Launch Technology and the IEEE International EML Symposia

The Special Issue of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science contains selected papers from the 17th International Symposium on Electromagnetic Launch (EML) Technology, held at Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, San Diego, CA, July 7–11, 2014. The EML Symposium is a biennial event that serves as the principal forum for the discussion, interchange, and presentation of research on critical technologies for accelerating macroscopic objects or projectiles to hypervelocities using electromagnetic or electro-thermochemical launchers. The EML Symposia have a long-standing international reputation as a catalyst for stimulating research in the field of EML.