Shocks


In space and astronautical engineering, shocks refer to abrupt changes in the properties of a gas or plasma that occur when it encounters an obstacle, such as a spacecraft or a planet. These changes can include variations in temperature, pressure, density, and velocity, and can have significant effects on the behavior of the gas or plasma. Shocks can be classified into different types based on their properties and the conditions under which they form, such as bow shocks, magnetosonic shocks, and collisionless shocks. Understanding the physics of shocks is important for designing spacecraft and instruments that can withstand and study these phenomena, as well as for modeling the behavior of plasmas in space.


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