Abstract
Investigations of solar-terrestrial relations began at Charles University, Czech Republic, in close cooperation with the Space Research Institute, Moscow, about 40 years ago. The Space Physics Laboratory participated in a development of plasma spectrometers for numerous space missions: Active, Apex, Prognoz 8, Intershock, Interball and others.
The data collected by these missions, being complemented with observations from other international projects, represents, still, a valuable base for the investigation of processes in near-Earth space. Although this chapter reviews the history of this research, its scientific section is organized according to physical topics rather than by a time.
This will allow emphasis on the progress in understanding different aspects of solar wind magnetosphere interactions. The chain of processes starts with the propagation of discontinuities through the solar wind, formation of the bow shock, interaction of the solar wind and embedded discontinuities with it, and their following modification in the magnetosheath.
The scientific results section is devoted to the latest results on magnetopause and cusp processes and their implications for plasma transport to the inner magnetosphere. Particularly discussed is magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause and at adjacent layers because the authors think that a global magnetospheric topology is consistent with magnetic reconnection as a leading mechanism, whereas other processes are important under particular circumstances.
Furthermore, attention is also directed to the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field, because the orientation of the magnetospheric magnetic field is known. However, the orientation of the magnetosheath field is estimated from measurements in interplanetary space.
This estimation can be a source of large errors, and it returns attention to studies of the solar wind propagation and modification within the magnetosheath.