Wang Jinsong, a researcher from the China Meteorological Administration, was awarded the William Nordberg Medal at the 46th International Space Research Council (COSPAR) Science Conference held in Florence, Italy, on August 3, local time.
The William Nordberg Medal is used to recognize the winner‘s outstanding achievements and outstanding contributions in the field of space science applications. Since the 1988 establishment of the medal, Wang Jinsong was the first Chinese scientist to receive this honor, and simultaneously received the name of an asteroid. This award indicates that our country‘s research results in space science and applications are highly recognized by the international academic community.
Wang Jinsong is currently the director of the National Satellite Weather Center (National Space Weather Monitoring and Pre-Warning Center), and the general designer of wind and cloud weather satellite engineering.
He presided over the creation of our country‘s national-level space weather business system, driving the continued development and globalization of weather satellites.
He led the development of systematic technological breakthroughs in non-directional platform high-precision solar imaging, wide field aurora imaging, wide energy spectrum omnidirectional particle detection, strong background weak signal gas radiance detection, and more. He proposed new mechanisms and new methods to recognize and simulate the coupling of solar and terrestrial systems. He also led the development of the country’s first-generation spatial numerical weather prediction system and the world’s first spatial weather chain prediction artificial intelligence model, Fengyu.
He innovatively proposed the “Three Elements Five Levels” architecture of the satellite efficiency system, becoming a new theoretical framework for development planning, design, research, and application services for wind, cloud, and weather satellites. He presided over breakthrough technologies such as multi-star coordinated space-time agile observation and real-time processing of vast heterogeneous planetary resources. For the first time, he achieved efficient coordinated observation scheduling and minute-scale intelligent online services for wind, cloud, and weather satellites.
Under the joint efforts of Wang Jinsong and his team, our space and weather business achieved a breakthrough development from nothing to something and then to international leadership.
Our space weather business monitoring system, which incorporates nearly a hundred ground stations with the Wind Cloud Satellite constellation as the core, makes us the only country apart from the United States with the ability to monitor the entire solar-terrestrial space weather business chain. The related technology is widely applied to major space projects such as Beidou, Chang‘e, Tianwen, and Kuafu;
Our space weather business system achieved the world‘s only all-A score in a joint assessment by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) ;
Our country‘s meteorological satellite business applications are integrated across provinces, cities, and counties. Wind, cloud, and meteorological satellite data are applied to 139 countries and regions, and related technologies are integrated into China‘s meteorological intelligence warning plan “Mama”;
The National Satellite Weather Center (National Space Weather Monitoring and Pre-warning Center) serves as the co-chairman of the WMO Space Weather Coordination Group and is recognized by the ICAO as the Global Space Weather Center.
The COSPAR is an important international academic organization under the International Science Council. The William Nordberg Medal is one of the important scientific awards established by the COSPAR. It is presented every two years and has been awarded to two scientists each since 2022. This year‘s other winner is David Seabeck, the chief astrophysicist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
( Wu Wei)