The SHIELD DRIVE Center team has created a number of tools that can be used by the broader space physics community.
This page provides information and details for using these tools.
The products listed here are:
- SHIELD Global MHD Heliosphere Model
- SPECTRUM: Space Plasma and Energetic Charged article TRansport on Unstructured Meshes.
- Synthetic Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) Model
- Web-Based Tool for Galactic Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere
- ENA Sky Map Visualization
- SHIELD Summer School Materials
- SHIELD Croissant Model 3D printable file.
SHIELD Global Heliosphere Model
SHIELD has developed a global MHD model of the heliosphere built from Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF). SWMF is a generalized model that can be applied to a wide range of space physics domains.
Link: https://github.com/SWMFsoftware/SWMF
Documentation: The instructions for installing the SWMF are included in the Github repository. To configure the SWMF to run the SHIELD outer heliosphere model, follow the instructions in this document. An example input file of this model is can be downloaded and has to be saved under the name “PARAM.in”.
Point of Contact: shield@bu.edu
Reference: Opher, M., Loeb, A., Drake, J. et al. A small and round heliosphere suggested by magnetohydrodynamic modelling of pick-up ions. Nat Astron 4, 675–683 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1036-0
SPECTRUM: Space Plasma and Energetic Charged Particle TRansport on Unstructured Meshes.
Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) is an ubiquitous mechanism for accelerating charged particles to high energies throughout our heliosphere. Space Plasma and Energetic Charged particle TRansport on Unstructured Meshes (SPECTRUM) software can be used for modeling DSA in planar and spherical shocks.
Point of Contact: Juan Alonso Guzmán (jgg0008@uah.edu)
Link: https://github.com/vflorins/SPECTRUM
Reference: S. Sharma, Y. Huang, J. G. Alonso Guzmán, V. Florinski, L. T. Schoenbaum, and M. Opher; “Modeling Cosmic-Ray Acceleration at Nonplanar Astrophysical Shocks Using the SPECTRUM Code”, 2025 ApJS 281 30, http://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ae0b66
Synthetic Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) Model
Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) measurements from a variety of missions (IBEX, IMAP, and Cassini) provide important touch points for global heliosphere models, while the models can provide insight into the processes that created the ENAs. This package uses the results from a global MHD model simulation of the outer heliosphere to predict the ENA flux that can be compared to the observations.
Link: https://github.com/SHIELD-DRIVE/ENACode
Point of Contact: Marc Kornbleuth (kmarc@bu.edu)
Reference: Kornbleuth, M., Opher, M.,, Zank, G. P., Wang, B. B., Giacalone, J., Gkioulidou, M., Dialynas, K. An Anomalous Cosmic Ray Mediated Termination Shock: Implications for Energetic Neutral Atom, ApJL, 944 L47
http://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb9e0
Web-Based Tool for Galactic Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere
This web-based tool is a simple, intuitive platform designed to visualize the GCR spectrum across different spacecraft, radial distances, and times. It is currently under development to align with the latest SHIELD modeling updates.
Introduction: Exploring Galactic Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere
Tool: Galactic Cosmic Ray Tool
Point of Contact: Eleonora Puzzoni (epuzzoni@arizona.edu)
Reference: E. Puzzoni, J. Giacalone, J. Sosa, J. Kóta, M. Opher, J. M. Sokół, A new web-based tool for galactic cosmic rays in the heliosphere, Advances in Space Research, Volume 78, Issue 2, 2026, Pages 1669–1683, ISSN 0273-1177, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2026.04.121
ENA Sky Map Visualization
This package – Mollpy SkyMaps – can be used to visualize Energetic Neutral Atom data (observations and model results) in sky maps in the Mollweide projection. Visualizing all-sky maps (e.g.) of ENA intensities is an important means in heliophysics to analyze and interpret observational data, compare simulations with observations, and present results. Mollpy-SkyMaps provides the community with a versatile, open-source, customizable tool in Python (a modern, free, popular and widely used data analysis programming language) to plot celestial maps in Mollweide projection *in arbitrary orientations*, which was not available previously. This greatly simplifies plotting and comparisons of ENA (and other) maps from different sources across heliophysics.
Link: https://github.com/jgazer/mollpy-skymaps
This package can be cited using the doi https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18111368
Primary Author: Jonathan Gasser, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Contact: jonathan.gasser_at_swri.org
Reference: Coming Soon
SHIELD Summer School Materials
The SHIELD Summer School invites participants to explore “Plasma Physics at the Edge of the Solar System”. Materials are appropriate for graduate students and advanced undergraduates interested in an introduction to the data and models for the outer heliosphere. Materials include both lecture slides from experts in the field and activities in the form of Python Notebooks that allow the exploration of the data and models.
Point of Contact: Nicholas Gross (gross@bu.edu)
Reference and Link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17572078
SHIELD Croissant Model 3D Printable File
Results from an MHD Global Model of the Heliosphere published by (Opher, 2020), were used to create a 3D printable file. The isosurface represents the region of strong temperature gradient between the hot solar wind plasma and the cold interstellar medium (ISM). Erick Powell was responsible for converting the model results into the STL file. The model is “unsupported” and you will need to design supports appropriate for your printing process. The model .STL file can be downloaded in a zip file.
Point of Contact: Nick Gross (gross@bu.edu)
A feature that was added to this model is a cylinder through the model the represents the rotational axis of the Sun.
This model was modified by Nicholas Kortenhaus under the direction of Lindsay Goodwin of NJIT to show the scale of the Sun’s Influence. You can view the model at this site and download a zip file containing the printable file.
