Global MHD simulations of space plasma environments: Heliosphere, comets, magnetospheres of planets and satellites

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) provides an approximate description of a great v ariety of processes in space physics. Accurate numerical solutions of the M HD equations are still a challenge, but in the past decade a number of robu st methods have appeared. Once these techniques made the direct solution of MHD equations feasible, a number of global three-dimensional models were d esigned and applied to many space physics objects. The range of these objec ts is truly astonishing, including active galactic nuclei, the heliosphere, the solar corona, and the solar wind interaction with planets, satellites, and comets. Outside the realm of space physics, MHD theory has been applie d to such diverse problems as laboratory plasmas and electromagnetic castin g of liquid metals. In this paper we present a broad spectrum of models of different phenomena in space science developed in the recent years at the U niversity of Michigan. Although the physical systems addressed by these mod els are different, they all use the MHD equations as a unifying basis.