CNCOSPAR

CAS/COSPAR Jeoujang Jaw Award is one of the eight COSPAR awards. The CAS/COSPAR Jeoujang Jaw Award recognizes scientists who have made distinguished pioneering contributions to promoting space research, establishing new space science research branches and founding new exploration programs.

CNCOSPAR welcomes qualified domestic and international researchers in the field of space science to apply for this award. Applications signed by eligible nominator should be sent to COSPAR headquarters where the award nomination committee will review and produce a short list of candidates, which will be sent to Chinese Academy of Sciences for final decision. The Secretariat of CNCOSPAR organizes review meeting by inviting leading Chinese space experts to select the final recipient of CAS/COSPAR Jeoujang Jaw Award.

List of Recipient

Citations of the Recipients

Award in 2026: Keke Zhang (Macau, China)

Director, Macau Institute of Space Technology and Application; AV President, Macau University of Science and Technology

Professor Keke Zhang is a distinguished space and planetary scientist, internationally recognized for over three decades of outstanding and pioneering contributions to advancing space planetary research. His major scientific achievements encompass a wide range of topics, including planetary convection, convection-driven dynamo theory and simulation, magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, planetary waves, gravitation inverse problems, the shape of giant planets, geomagnetic satellites, and geomagnetic data analysis and modeling. Since 2020, as the Principal Investigator and Chief Scientist for the Macau Science Satellite-1 (MSS-1)-the world’s first low-latitude geomagnetic satellite launched in 2023 with the best local-time coverage-he has initiated, designed, implemented, managed, and led the internationally successful MSS-1 mission, whose highly accurate magnetic data are widely used in scientific research to understand Earth's coupled system from its core to its magnetosphere. For these transformative scientific and leadership accomplishments, Professor Zhang is most deserving of CAS/COSPAR Jeoujang Jaw Award.

Award in 2024: Daniel Baker (USA)

Director and Distinguished Professor, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, USA

Professor Daniel Baker’s contributions to planetary science range from his pioneering work with James Van Allen on the Jovian magnetosphere (1974-76) to his most recent work on Mercury (2008-2020) with the MESSENGER program. He was a central player in the International Solar Terrestrial Physics program and served as an investigator on a large number of space missions, terrestrial and planetary. He has been a hands-on experimenter but, most importantly, he has had a presence in all phases of a mission: concept, management, implementation, operations, data analysis and publication. In this respect, with more than 900 journal papers published, that have received over 50,000 citations, and with an h-index of 127, he has been one of the most prolific writers in the entire discipline. Professor Baker has actively promoted space weather research, calling the attention of the public to it and informing the US Congress about the potential hazards to humankind of extreme space weather events. He is one of the few scientists who can grasp scientific research in the context of the social and economic context. Professor Baker has led scientific investigations on numerous NASA missions as well as unselfishly served the space research community in significant capacities.

Award in 2022: no award

Award in 2020: Wing-Huen Ip (Taiwan, China)

Institute of Astronomy, Central University, Taiwan, China

Professor Wing-Huen Ip has made significant contributions to deep-space exploration, including comets and outer Planets. In particular, his contribution to the CASSINI-Huygens mission was recognized as pioneering and non-replaceable. He is also a pioneer in the study of the interrelation of planetesimals with Uranus and Neptune in the early solar system and in satellite-ring-magnetosphere interaction. Due to his significant achievements in planetary science and related missions, Professor Ip is a most worthy awardee of the 2020 CAS/COSPAR Jeoujang JAW Award.

Award in 2018: Sergey Krikalev (Russia)

Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, Moscow, Russia

Sergey Krikalev is a cosmonaut, now the Executive Director of human spaceflight programs of the State Space Corporation, Russia. He is a truly legendary man, having spent 803 days in space, including eight EVA's. As a Hero of the Soviet Union and Russia, Krikalev has won many awards, both at home and abroad for his long space flights aboard the MlR space station, the International Space Station, and Space Shuttle missions as well.

During his space flights, Krikalev was actively involved in space science experiments, such as ultraviolet observations of stars of early spectral class, the PKE-Nefedov experiment on plasma crystals forming spontaneously under microgravity conditions, and identification of circular superficial wave systems. Furthermore, based on his unique experience in space flight, Krikalev reformed the management of human space flight training programs in Russia, introduced open competition in the selection of cosmonaut candidates, and committed to the training of new cosmonauts. For his distinguished contributions to human activities in space research, COSPAR and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are honored to present the Jeouiang Jaw award to Mr. Krikalev.

Award in 2016: Cheng Fang (China)

School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

Professor Fang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pioneered the use of non-LTE theory and successfully established a series of semi-empirical atmospheric models of active sola phenomena, such as solar flares, sunspots, plages, prominences, microflares, Ellerman bombs, and so on. He and his colleagues developed innovative methods for the spectral diagnostics of nonthermal particles in solar flares and constructed a set of hydrodynamic models of solar flares. In addition, his distinguished contributions to the solar physics community include responsibility for the design and construction of two important solar instruments: the Solar Tower Telescope of Nanjing University and the Optical & Near-infrared Solar Eruptive Telescope. Both telescopes operated successfully and provided a great number of valuable observations. Being an active member of the scientific community, Professor Fang is strongly involved in the promotion of solar physics for future Chinese space programs. For his significant contribution to solar physics, both in research and instrumentation, the 2016 Jeoujang Jaw Award is given to Professor Cheng Fang.

Award in 2014: Martin Sweeting (United Kingdom)

Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom

Professor Martin Sweeting pioneered the concept and engineering of rapid-response, low-cost and highly-capable micro satellites utilizing commercial “off-the-shelf" (COTS) devices. This concept and his endeavor in making the COTS devices gradually changed the world of space industry and the related economy and politics to the point that not only big space countries can launch a space mission, but also small developing countries and even university students can make and operate satellite. Currently, there are hundreds of small, micro and nano satellites flying in space, making contributions to communication, earth observation and space research, which has already become an important part of the overall space facility. For his significant contribution to the concept and engineering of low-cost micro-satellites, the 2014 Jeouiang Jaw Award is given to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting.

Award in 2012: Robert P. Lin (USA)

Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California

Professor Lin is a world-renowned experimentalist and space scientist. His primary interest is in how particles are accelerated to high energies in nature, from the sun and in the interplanetary medium.

Professor Lin led the pioneering RHESSl (Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager) mission that made the high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy of the x-rays and gamma-rays emitted by energetic particles accelerated by solar flares. The accomplishments of this mission include the first hard X-ray imaging spectroscopy, the first high-resolution spectroscopy of solar gamma-ray lines, the first imaging above 100 keV, and the first imaging of solar gamma-ray lines. The mission is still returning excellent data after almost ten years in orbit and has detected more than 30,000 solar flares referenced in more than 800 refereed publications. In addition to RHESSl, Professor Lin has also led the development of various innovative energetic particle and plasma instruments that have been flown on space missions and have provided in situ measurements of plasma and fields in the Earth's magnetosphere and upstream. These instruments have also gathered valuable information on the origin and dynamics of the solar wind and the interaction of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind. Furthermore, Professor Lin has developed instruments for mapping the surface magnetic fields of Mars and the Moon by means of electron reflection magnetometry.

Award in 2010: Calvin T. Swift (USA)

University of Massachusetts

Prof. Swift has made numerous contributions to the field of Earth observation using microwave remote sensing, particularly in the pioneer work of remote sensing of soil moisture and ocean salinity using interferometric radiometer techniques, such as the Electronically Steered Thinned Array Radiometer (ESTAR), which is the first ever instrument using such technology for each observation. Since his pioneer work, this technology has been implemented in many airborne systems and promote the development of earth observation and space exploration.

Award in 2008: James L. Burch (USA)

vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division of Southwest Research Institute

Prof. Burch is the first recipient of the award, given in recognition of his leadership on the NASA Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) mission, which provided the first global images of the Earth's magnetosphere and demonstrated how the transport of charged particles in the Earth's space environment responds to variations in the solar wind.