Space Research Institute
Space Research Institute

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You are visiting the old website of IKI. Some information presented here may be out-of-date.
New IKI's website is available on https://iki.cosmos.ru/en
Some information is in Russian only. For all enquires you may write to iki@cosmos.ru

Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Founded in 1965 (Government Resolution from May 15, 1965), then within the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.

Appointed principal organisation for robotic space research and exploration in the Academy of Sciences, thus complementing manned space program.

IKI designs and builds scientific instruments for space experiments, acts as principal organization for various scientific space projects and missions, and uses the data of space probes to deepen our understanding of space and Earth.

IKI acronym comes from Russian "Institut Kosmicheskih Issledovanyi", which is Space Research Institute, and is used in English as is.

In 1986, IKI was awarded with the Order of Lenin for significant contribution to science and technology development, after successful implementation of VEGA mission to study Venus and comet Halley.

Dr. Anatoly Petrukovich, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, heads IKI from 2018.
Academician Prof. Lev Zelenyi is science advisor of IKI from 2018.

Short history of IKI with respect to directors and main missions

  • IKI's structure (main departments and areas of research as of 2019)
    •    
    Fields of research

    Astrophysics, in particular radioastronomy and high energy astrophysics, which includes both theoretical and experimental works with data from space and Earth-based observatories, and development of future astrophysical instruments
    Space plasma physics, studies of Sun, solar wind, and interplanetary medium, solar-terrestrial relations, space weather, including novel approaches to study sun's influence over biological systems (heliobiology).
    Planetary and solar system research, from instrument design and development to data acquisition and incorporation into current theories of planetary formation and evolution, including climate research.
    Earth remote sensing, including data analysis and development of dedicated information systems using satellite data
    Mechanics, operation systems, space ballistics
    Space engineering and testbed facilities, to test the instruments prior to their installation aboard the spacecraft, including thermal and vacuum chambers, radiation chambers, centrifuge, electrical, and vibration tests, mechanical tests.
    Information processing

  • The most important results from previous years


    NATIONAL REPORT on the Results of Fundamental Space Research Realized in Russia During 2016 – 2017
    •    
    Current missions and experiments
    (main experimental projects under implementation)

  • Spektr-RG (SRG) — is an astrophysical space observatory, aimed at studying our Universe in the X-ray band of the electromagnetic spectrum once it is in position at the Lagrange point L2 of the Sun-Earth system, 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. The Spektr-RG astrophysical space observatory is developed by the Russian side under the Federal Space Program of Russia, section on Fundamental Space Research, by order of the Russian Academy of Sciences with the participation of Germany.
  • Trace Gas Orbiter, part of project ExoMars, a cooperation between ESA and Roscosmos to study Mars
  • HEND instrument onboard Mars Odyssey mission (NASA)
  • Instrument suit onboard Mars Express (ESA) mission for Mars remote sensing
  • BTN-M №1 for BTN-Neutron experiment onboard International Space Station (Russian segment)
  • LEND (short for Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector) instrument onboard Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (NASA)
  • DAN (short for Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons) instrument onboard Curiosity rover (Mars Science Laboratory project, NASA)
  • INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, ESA) X-ray and gamma-ray orbital observatory
  • RTT150 Russian-Turkish 1.5-m Telescope
  • Instrument suits onboard BepiColombo (ESA) mission to study Mercury and its magnetic field
    •    

    The Tenth Moscow Solar System Symposium
    10M-S3
    October 7-11,2019
       50 Years of Space Research in IKI
  • "Afterword to Foreword". The interview with the director of Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Academician Lev M. Zelenyi
  • Space Research Institute in Times of Change. Glimpses of the Past and Visions of the Future International Forum “Space Science: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”. 30 September – 2 October 2015, Moscow. Selected Papers from the Session. (pdf, 18MB), cover (jpg, 0,1MB)
    •    Conferences
    Upcoming conferences
  • Space Science Days 2021
  • First international conference “The Road to Space”. October 5–8, 2021
  • 9th International Conference on the Physics of Dusty Plasmas ICPDP 2022. May 23-27, 2022

    Past conferences (from 2002)
    •    
    Main future missions and experiments

  • ExoMars, a joint project of European Space Agency (ESA) and ROSCOSMOS State Corporation to explore Mars. Mission goals are to search for signs of past and present life on Mars; investigate variations of water content and geochemical environment; and study Martian atmospheric trace gases and their sources. The project has two parts with launches in 2016 (already in operation) and 2022 respectively.
  • Lunar program, which includes three successive missions: Luna-25 to land the spacecraft on the Moon; Luna-26 orbital mission to study Moon from low polar orbit (approximately 50–100 km); Luna-27 landing mission, which shall study lunar regolith in situ.
    • Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI), 84/32 Profsoyuznaya Str, Moscow, Russia, 117997
    Phone +7(495) 333-52-12, Fax +7(495) 333-12-48, iki@cosmos.ru
    For media inquiries, please, contact press@cosmos.ru