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Abstract The upstream and downstream plasmas of 109 strong‐compression forward interplanetary shocks are statistically analyzed using 3‐s measurements from the WIND spacecraft. The goal is a comparison of the fluctuation properties of downstream plasmas in comparison with the fluctuation properties of upstream plasmas in the inertial range of frequencies and the magnetic‐structure range of spatial scales. The shocks all have density compression rations of ~2 or more. When possible, each shock is categorized according to the type of solar wind plasma it propagates through: 15 shocks are in coronal‐hole‐origin plasma, 42 shocks are in streamer‐belt‐origin plasma, 36 shocks are in sector‐reversal‐region plasmas, and 11 shocks are in ejecta plasma. The statistical study examines magnetic field and velocity spectral indices, the Alfvénicity, the fluctuation amplitudes, Alfvén ratios, the degree of plasma inhomogeneity, and Taylor microscales, looking in particular at (1) fluctuation values downstream that are related to fluctuation values upstream and (2) systematic differences in fluctuation values associated with the type of plasma. It is argued that inhomogeneity of the downstream plasma can be caused by spatial variations in the shock normal angleθ_Bncaused by field direction variations in the upstream magnetic structure. The importance of determining the type of plasma that the shock propagates through is established. 

Abstract In situ measurements of the solar wind have been available for almost 60 years, and in that time plasma physics simulation capabilities have commenced and ground‐based solar observations have expanded into space‐based solar observations. These observations and simulations have yielded an increasingly improved knowledge of fundamental physics and have delivered a remarkable understanding of the solar wind and its complexity. Yet there are longstanding major unsolved questions. Synthesizing inputs from the solar wind research community, nine outstanding questions of solar wind physics are developed and discussed in this commentary. These involve questions about the formation of the solar wind, about the inherent properties of the solar wind (and what the properties say about its formation), and about the evolution of the solar wind. The questions focus on (1) origin locations on the Sun, (2) plasma release, (3) acceleration, (4) heavy‐ion abundances and charge states, (5) magnetic structure, (6) Alfven waves, (7) turbulence, (8) distribution‐function evolution, and (9) energetic‐particle transport. On these nine questions we offer suggestions for future progress, forward looking on what is likely to be accomplished in near future with data from Parker Solar Probe, from Solar Orbiter, from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), and from Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH). Calls are made for improved measurements, for higher‐resolution simulations, and for advances in plasma physics theory.