Introduction

On April 28, 2026, the Chinese Academy of Sciences officially launched the ‘Rock 100’ model system. This achievement signifies a transition in AI-driven scientific research from isolated explorations to a collaborative and efficient platform for innovation.

Overview of the ‘Rock 100’ Model System

According to researcher Zeng Dajun from the Institute of Automation, the ‘Rock 100’ model system is built on the ‘Rock: Scientific Foundation Large Model’ and is supported by a cluster of large models across various disciplines. It incorporates application models and intelligent agents tailored for specific research scenarios, creating a comprehensive and efficient digital research innovation platform.

The core intelligent model, ‘Rock: Scientific Foundation Large Model,’ is trained on specialized scientific corpora and data to serve scientific tasks. Since its initial version 1.0 was released in January 2025, the development team has continuously iterated and optimized its capabilities. The newly released version 1.5pro features three major scientific modal models: wave base, spectrum base, and field base, achieving significant advancements in scientific knowledge Q&A, long-range reasoning for intelligent agents, and multimodal understanding and generation.

Applications and Functions

Zeng Dajun provided an example: “In understanding ‘wave’ data, the model can help identify potential structures and patterns within complex waveforms, facilitating a leap from ‘post-event analysis’ to ‘real-time warnings’ in astronomical event observations.”

Leveraging the foundational model’s capabilities, the ‘Rock 100’ model system introduces three core functions: Literature Compass, Innovation Evaluation, and Intelligent Agent Factory, deeply empowering the entire research process. The ‘Rock: Literature Compass’ aids in literature review and autonomous review writing; ‘Rock: Innovation Evaluation’ provides real-time insights into cutting-edge research and industry dynamics, helping identify key scientific issues and potential innovation directions; and ‘Rock: Intelligent Agent Factory’ offers a one-stop service of tools and intelligent agents, with over 2000 research tools accumulated across more than ten specialized fields.

Focus Areas and Ecosystem

The Chinese Academy of Sciences is focusing on key directions in mathematics, physics, materials, astronomy, aerospace, earth sciences, and biology to develop a cluster of large model capabilities in these disciplines, forming a systematic innovation ecosystem. For instance, in the field of aerospace science, the ‘Rock: Near Space’ large model is the first of its kind with deep domain cognition and complex problem reasoning capabilities.

Researcher Yang Yanchu from the Academy’s Aerospace Information Innovation Research Institute stated: “The ‘Rock: Near Space’ large model targets three main areas: near space platforms, environments, and applications, deeply integrating knowledge from energy, materials, and flight control across multiple disciplines. It possesses comprehensive cognitive abilities regarding the near space technology system, supporting research and engineering practices in near space applications, environments, thermal performance, aerodynamics, and flight control across all fields and processes.”

Conclusion

The Rock model system has been promoted and applied in over 50 units of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, empowering more than a hundred frontline research scenarios and demonstrating broad application prospects in major national research tasks such as astronomical observations, Qinghai-Tibet scientific investigations, and ocean forecasting.