The Russian Space Research Institute (russian: Институт космических исследований Российской академии наук, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, SRI RAS, Russian

abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: ИКИ РАН, IKI RAN) is the leading organization of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by uncrewed robo ...

to benefit

fundamental science Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied resear ...

. It was formerly known as the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences ( Russian

abbr. An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: ИКИ АН СССР, IKI AN SSSR). It is usually known by the shorter name Space Research Institute and especially by the initialism IKI. The institute is located in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

with a staff of 289

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

s. It conducts scientific research in the fields of

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

, solar physics,

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

relations, cosmic plasma, and

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

. IKI also develops and tests

space technologies Space technology is technology for use in outer space, in travel (''astronautics'') or other activities beyond Earth's atmosphere, for purposes such as spaceflight, space exploration, and Earth observing satellite, Earth observation. Space technolo ...

in collaboration with the

and the Federal Space Agency.

History

It was founded on May 15, 1965, by the Soviet Union's

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or ...

decree #392-147. Initially, the institute formed its staff by drawing scientists from other research organizations. With time, it grew to two thousand employees, including those in a few branches located elsewhere in the country. In 1992, a year after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

it was rechristened with its present name.

Directors of the institute

# Georgy Petrov (1965–1973) # Roald Z. Sagdeev (1973–1988) # Albert Galeev (1988–2002) #

Lev Zeleny Lev Matveevich Zelenyi (russian: Лев Матвеевич Зелёный, born August 23, 1948) is a Soviet and Russian physicist, an expert in the field of space plasma physics, the physics of solar-terrestrial relations, nonlinear dynamics and ...

(2002–2018) # Anatoly Petrukovich (2018–present)

Research

The institute engages in research in the following areas: *

High-energy astrophysics High energy astronomy is the study of astronomical objects that release electromagnetic radiation of highly energetic wavelengths. It includes X-ray astronomy, gamma-ray astronomy, extreme UV astronomy, neutrino astronomy, and studies of cosmic ...

Planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

* Space plasma physics *

Interplanetary medium The interplanetary medium (IPM) or interplanetary space consists of the mass and energy which fills the Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding ...

and

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sol ...

Earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four sphere ...

Optical physics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) is the study of matter-matter and light-matter interactions; at the scale of one or a few atoms and energy scales around several electron volts. The three areas are closely interrelated. AMO theory in ...

research *

Satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

Situation Center * Russian Space Science Internet * Data Archive

Current missions and experiments

* Plasma-F suit (three scientific instruments and data processing unit) onboard Spektr-R spacecraft (end of mission 2019), * HEND (short for High Energy Neutron Detector) instrument onboard

Mars Odyssey ''2001 Mars Odyssey'' is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectro ...

mission (

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

), *

Mars Express ''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ''Mars Express'' mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally ref ...

( ESA) mission for Mars remote sensing. IKI contributed to three instruments on board the mission: OMEGA mapping spectrometer, PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer), and SPICAM infrared and UV spectrometer. Russian scientists are also co-investigators in most scientific groups of the project. Launched in 2003. *

Venus Express ''Venus Express'' (VEX) was the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in November 2005, it arrived at Venus in April 2006 and began continuously sending back science data from its polar orbit around Venus. ...

( ESA) mission for Venus remote sensing. IKI contributed to two instruments on board the spacecraft: SPICAV/SOIR infrared and UV-spectrometer and PFS (Planetary Fourier Spectrometer). Russian scientists are also co-investigators in three other experiments VIRTIS, VMS, and ASPERA. Launched in 2005. * LEND (short for Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector) instrument onboard

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions t ...

(

), * DAN (short for Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons) instrument onboard

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human ...

rover (

Mars Science Laboratory Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed ''Curiosity'', a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigati ...

project,

), * Chibis-M microsatellite (end of mission October 15, 2014), *

INTEGRAL In mathematics, an integral assigns numbers to functions in a way that describes displacement, area, volume, and other concepts that arise by combining infinitesimal data. The process of finding integrals is called integration. Along with ...

(INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, ESA) X-ray and gamma-ray orbital observatory. It was delivered to space by Proton launcher from Baikonur cosmodrome, under condition that Russian scientists get 25% of the observational time. IKI hosts INTEGRAK Russian Scientific Data Center, * RTT150 Russian-Turkish 1.5-m Telescope. International observatory in Turkey (previously called AZT-22), mountain Bakyrlytepe is an international project carried out under supervision of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russian Federation and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). From the Russian side the main executing participants are Kazan State University (KGU) and IKI, from the Turkish side it is managed by TUBITAK National Observatory (TUG). In accordance to the agreement between the participants of the project, the telescope observing time is shared as follows: 45% – KGU, 15% – IKI, and 40% – are shared between Turkish universities through TUG, * MKS-Obstanovka (ISS-Environment) experiment onboard

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

(Russian segment), * RELEC (microsatellite experiment to study energetic particles in the near-Earth space, principal organisation — Skobeltsyn Institute for Nuclear Physics of Lomonosov Moscow State University). Additionally, IKI's scientists belong to various international collaborations on a number of science projects, such as

IBEX An ibex (plural ibex, ibexes or ibices) is any of several species of wild goat (genus ''Capra''), distinguished by the male's large recurved horns, which are transversely ridged in front. Ibex are found in Eurasia, North Africa and East Africa ...

and

Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...

, and are engaged in studies with Earth-based facilities.

External links

Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

References

{{authority control 1965 establishments in the Soviet Union Institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences Soviet and Russian space institutions Buildings and structures built in the Soviet Union Buildings and structures in Moscow Research institutes in the Soviet Union Space technology research institutes Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology