News and Events (in Russian for the time being)

28th February in Russia is Arctic Day. Satellite remote sensing data are crucial for those, who study and work here. IKI scientists develop special algorithms for satellite microwave radiometry and run subsatellite experiments to refine the models, which are used for data processing. Results of such experiment, organized together with Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute and Atomflot, are already included in the database of IKI-Monitoring center of collective use.

In February 2025 in-flight tests of the MVN All-Sky X-ray Monitor installed on the outer side of the International Space Station have been successfully completed.

As part of the experiment, tests of special shields, wcich should protect BTN-M2 instrument's detectors from space neutrons, commenced.

On February 10–14, 2025 IKI hosts the 20th annual conference «Plasma Physics in Solar System».

Students from 'space classes' of the school №60 from Rostov-on-Don visited IKI and went through an intensive course on space science from 27 to 31st January as part of the RAS's Basic Schools program.

Asteroid 2024 YR4, first discovered on December 27, 2024, by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), has been drawing much attention ever since it was found to (possibly) impact the Earth in less than a decade.

Among them is IKI scientist Aleksandr Sinevich and his study of plasma in the Earth's ionosphere.

At the first plenary session Anatoly Petrukovich, IKI Director, spoke about scientific experiments and technological opportunities that can be done with spacecraft in low-Earth orbits.

January 8, 2025 BepiColombo spacecraft (ESA, JAXA) made its sixth and final Mercury flyby before arriving to Mercury in November 2026. Minimal distance from the planet's surface was 295.6 km. Several instruments of its scientific payload operated during the flyby, and among them was Russian gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer MGNS, made at IKI.

Noctilucent clouds are typically observed in summer, but in December 2024 these structures were seen in Siberia. IKI scientist Oleg Ugolnikov has studied this rare event. The paper was published on arXiv.org.