BEIJING (SCMP): A top Chinese space expert who specialised in weather monitoring and early warning systems died in a car crash in Beijing on Sunday night aged 62.
Zhang Xiaoxin, a space expert who had long been involved in space weather research, was mourned in an obituary issued on Tuesday by the National Satellite Meteorological Centre (NSMC), an affiliate of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), where he worked.
Zhang won a top award given by the Chinese military for science and tech progress, although little information is available about his research project.
He is the second Chinese scientist with close ties to the military to die in a car crash in recent years.
In July last year, Feng Yanghe, an outstanding young expert in artificial intelligence related to China’s defence sector, died in Beijing on the way to “a major mission” at the age of 38.
Feng was an associate professor at the National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) in Changsha, Hunan province, and led teams in developing the War Skull I and War Skull II AI programs used by the People’s Liberation Army to simulate joint operation military war games.
Zhang was born in 1962 in Shandong province in eastern China. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Jilin University in 1987 and a doctorate in space physics from Auburn University in the United States in 2003.
In 2007, he returned to China as a high-level overseas talent and served as a special expert for the CMA, giving up a US green card to devote himself to building and developing China’s space weather sector.
Regarded as “one of the important pioneers and founders” of his field, Zhang is remembered for his outstanding contribution to monitoring and warning technologies and platforms.
According to a 2021 article by the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the team led by Zhang implemented and expanded weather application services in key areas such as space, aviation and communications, serviced missions, including Shenzhou and Chang’e, and established business relationships with users like the air force and the civil aviation sector.
As the chief expert in an 863 Programme, also known as China’s State Hi-Tech Development Plan, Zhang led the initial completion of a space weather disaster observation network for short-wave communication, a star-ground radio link and long-distance power grid.
He was also one of the leading scientists behind China’s FengYun series of meteorological satellites.
Among his many positions, Zhang was director of the space weather office of the NSMC, co-chair of the international space weather coordination group of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and an expert adviser to the aviation meteorology working group of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
His achievements earned him many honours, including the titles of outstanding senior returned scholar, CMA leading talent and leadership contribution award from the WMO commission on observing technology systems.
