On August 3 local time, at the 46th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) held in Florence, Italy, Prof. WANG Jinsong from the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) was awarded the ‌William Nordberg Medal‌.

This medal commemorates the work of the late William Nordberg and is awarded to a scientist who has made a distinguished contribution to the application of space science in a field covered by COSPAR. Since the medal was established in 1988, Prof. WANG Jinsong is the first Chinese scientist to receive this honor. As per COSPAR's long-standing convention, Prof. WANG Jinsong is also granted the naming of a minor planet in recognition of his outstanding contributions to space science.

WANG Jinsong currently serves as Director General of the National Satellite Meteorological Center (National Center for Space Weather) (NSMC/NCSW) and the Chief Designer of the FENGYUN (FY) Meteorological Satellite Program. He takes charge of the establishment of China's national-level space weather operational system, and has promoted the continuous development and global application of FY meteorological satellites.

He led the team to achieve systematic technological breakthroughs in high-precision solar imaging on non-steered platforms, large-field-of-view aurora imaging, wide-energy-spectrum omni-directional particle detection, and airglow detection of weak signals under strong background. He proposed new mechanisms and methods for understanding and simulating the coupling of the solar-terrestrial system, and led the development of China's first-generation space weather numerical prediction system as well as FengYu, the world's first Artificial Intelligence (AI) model for chained space weather forecasting.

He innovatively put forward the "Three Elements and Five Levels" architecture for satellite efficiency system, which has become the new theoretical framework for the development planning, design and manufacturing, and application services of FY meteorological satellites. He presided over breakthroughs in technologies such as multi-satellite coordinated space-time agile observation and real-time processing of massive heterogeneous satellite-ground resources, and realized for the first time the efficient collaborative observation planning and minute-scale intelligent online services of FY meteorological satellites.

With the joint efforts of his team, China's space weather operation has achieved leapfrog development from scratch to international leading levels. The space weather operational monitoring system, centered on the FY satellite constellation and integrating nearly 100 ground stations, has made China with full-chain operational monitoring capabilities for solar-terrestrial space weather. The relevant technologies are widely applied in major aerospace projects including BeiDou, Chang'E, Tianwen and ASO-S, etc.

China's space weather operational system achieved the world's only full-A score in the joint assessment by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). China has realized the full-line connection of meteorological satellite operational applications across national, provincial, municipal and county levels. FY meteorological satellite data has been applied in 139 countries and territories, and the relevant technologies are integrated into MAZU-China Intelligent Meteorological Early Warning Solution. NSMC/NCSW serves as the co-chair unit of the WMO Space Weather Coordination Group, and has been accredited as a Global Space Weather Center by ICAO.

COSPAR, is a leading international academic organization under the International Science Council. The William Nordberg Medal is one of the most prestigious scientific awards established by COSPAR, which is presented biennially. Since 2022, 2 distinguished scientists have been selected as recipients for each award cycle. The other 2026 laureate is David Sibeck, Chief Scientist in heliophysics at NASA.

Author: ZHAO Xiaowei, LIN Yutong

Editor: LIU Shuqiao