Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAS)

Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1965. IKI designs and builds scientific instruments for space experiments, acts as a principal organization for various scientific space projects and missions, and uses the data of space probes to deepen the understanding of space and Earth.

The Research Institute’s expertise includes astrophysics, space plasma physics, 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, space engineering, information processing.

The main institute’s future missions are Exomars (a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and ROSCOSMOS State Corporation to explore Mars) and the 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 (50-100 km), Luna-27 landing mission which shall study lunar regolith. At the moment, due to sanctions, the implementation of these missions may be postponed indefinitely.