News and Events (in Russian for the time being)

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.

The Minister wishes a fruitful and successful New Year 2024.

Our warmest wishes for the upcoming new year 2024!

Dr. Anatoly Petrukovich names IKI's 5+ main results and 5 most interesting events and trends in world space science and exploration.

On December 25, 2024, delegation of cosmonauts and specialists from Yu. A. Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center visited IKI.

On December 25, 2024 Resurs-P №5 spacecraft was successfully launched from Baikonur cosmodrome and inserted into the planned orbit.