Investigation of shock waves in interplanetary and near earth plasma: new results and basic problems of future investigations.

Comparison of data from interplanetary probes and observations of radio sources has made it possible to determine the shape of interplanetary shock waves under different conditions and to study their propagation over long distances (beyond the earth's orbit). The development of computer simulation methods for shock wave propagation makes it possible to relate the in situ measurements to the characteristics of disturbances near the sun. The tasks and prospects of future studies in this field are discussed with reference to the Intershock program.