Minor Planet (7864) Borucki
One of the great new fields of astrophysics is the study of exoplanets. As of the end of April 2020 more than 4000 such bodies are known. More than 2000 of these were discovered by the Kepler Mission, with another 2000 candidates yet to be confirmed. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Sunnyvale, California, USA
Minor Planet (8258) McCracken
Dr. Ken McCracken began his career in space science at the University of Tasmania where he developed the four station Australian neutron monitor network for the International Geophysical Year 1957-8. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he developed the mathematics and digital computer code to trace the orbits of relativistic cosmic rays in the six-degree geomagnetic field, a technique still used today. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Mt Jellore, Bowral, NSW, Australia
Minor Planet (8267) Kiss
Minor Planet (8333) Medina
Professor Dr. John Z. Kiss and Dr. F. Javier Medina have both been active in international spaceflight research for more than two decades during which they studied the growth and development of plants under microgravity in spaceflight. Both served as principal investigators for a joint spaceflight project named Seeding Growth (SG) where Kiss was funded by NASA and Medina by ESA and the Spanish National Research Agency to conduct studies on board the International Space Station. The major goals of the Seedling Growth program were to determine how gravity and light responses influence each other in plants and to better understand the cellular signaling mechanisms involved in plant tropisms and growth. Read more
Hometown image pictured is the Foust Building, The University of North Carolina Greensboro, USA
Hometown image pictured is Madrid Plaza Mayor, Spain
Minor Planet (5641) McCleese
Dr. Daniel J. McCleese is a pioneer in remote sensing of the atmospheres of the terrestrial planets. Since receiving his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1976, he has designed, built and flown orbiting, state-of-the-art, remote sounding instruments to profile atmospheric temperatures, aerosols, and constituents,... Read more
Hometown image pictured is Altadena, California, USA
Minor Planet (8479) Held
Dr Alex Held is the first southern hemisphere winner of the COSPAR Massey Award, which reflects his pioneering contributions to Earth observation and the space sector in Australia and abroad. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Parliament House, Canberra, Australia
Minor Planet (8617) Fellous
Jean-Louis Fellous has been thoroughly immersed in COSPAR since he delivered his first talk at a science conference, the COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Konstanz, Germany in 1973. In the ensuing years, he took part in and organized many Scientific Assemblies, serving 16 years as a COSPAR officer in Scientific Commission A. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Pic Saint-Loup, Montpellier, France
Dr Alexi Glover is the Space Weather Service Coordinator within the European Space Agency’s Space Weather Office, part of the Space Safety Programme Office, located in Darmstadt, Germany. She is responsible for development and coordination of ESA’s network of space weather services which includes participation of approximately 40 research institutes and organisations from across Europe. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Portmeirion, North Wales
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 recognised as pioneering and non-replaceable. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Taipei 101, Taiwan
COSPAR Scientific Commission A
For his pioneering work in understanding the dynamics of the upper troposphere and stratosphere, through the combination of satellite observations and theoretical analysis, and in pursuing the implications of the upper-atmosphere tides on spatio-temporal variations in ozone abundance. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Kyoto, Japan
COSPAR Scientific Commission B
For significant progress in our understanding of the processes which form and control Trans-Neptunian Objects, and for the important contributions of her studies of 1l/’Oumuamua, the first interstellar object. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Mt Taranaki, New Zealand
COSPAR Scientific Commission C
For major contributions to studies on magnetospheric effect on the thermosphere/ionosphere and the middle atmosphere by multi-instrument observations from the space and the ground. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Sapporo City, Japan
COSPAR Scientific Commission D
For the investigation of magnetic reconnection using data from Cluster and Magnetospheric Multiscale. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Uppsala Cathedral, Sweden
COSPAR Scientific Commission E
For major contribution to deciphering the historical high-energy activity of the supermassive black hole Sgr A* in the center of our Galaxy and insights into the physical processes of galactic collapsed objects. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Yanaul, Russia
COSPAR Scientific Commission F
For his important contributions in the use of a multifunctional approach in developing personal radiation shielding and monitoring of radiation environment against solar particle events during space travel. Read more
Hometown image pictured is The University of Pavia, Italy
COSPAR Scientific Commission G
For her contribution to ground-breaking photoelectrochemical experiments in reduced gravitation, demonstrating the potential of solar-assisted oxygen and fuel production for future, long-term, crewed space missions. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Marienfeld Abbey, Germany
COSPAR Scientific Commission H
For leading the design, testing, calibration, and data processing of the first inter-satellite laser interferometer of the geodesy mission GRACE-FO which may also be applied to the future gravitational wave mission LISA. Read more
Hometown image pictured is Hannover, Germany
There are 32 recipients in 2020 of the COSPAR Outstanding Paper Awards for Young Scientists who are listed here
http://cosparhq.cnes.fr/assets/uploads/2020/07/Outstanding-Paper-Award-Recipient-List_2020_Web.pdf.
The papers of all Outstanding Paper Award recipients are free to read through 3 August 2021 via this link:
www.journals.elsevier.com/advances-in-space-research/news/cospar-outstanding-paper-award-for-young-scientist
Further information about the individual Awards can be found here:
COSPAR HQ Website
You will want to grab the official t-shirt of the first ever Virtual Assembly in the history of COSPAR.
Missed the Space Agency Leaders’ Round Table live? You can now download and view the recording.
See the whole weeks’ program at a glance. Commencing Friday 28th January 2021.
View the extended interview videos of all Awardees here.