Alexander Lutovinov

The first Russian Space Week was held from 6 to 12 April 2026, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight. On 6 April the plenary session dedicated to scientific experiments aboard manned orbital stations took place at IKI. During the Week, IKI scientists participated in various scientific and popular events. The Week's final event at IKI was traditional Doors Open Day, this year together with Polytechnical Museum.

Strange events occurred near the Earth after solar flare X1.9 on 18 January 2026. That were the arrival of coronal mass ejection on 19 January, followed by record flux of solar protons and geomagnetic storm on 19–21 January. Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope aboard Spektr-RG observatory studied the solar flare and the proton event in the vicinity of L2 Lagrange point.

January 13, 2026 Spektr-RG observatory marked 6.5 years since the day of its launch, which is also its guaranteed operational time. Today the observatory has successfully completed its nominal mission and continues studying the Universe in hard X-ray range.

The conference started at IKI on 22 December 2025.

Mikhail Pavlinsly ART-XC X-ray telescope studies the properties of the nuclear stellar disc of the Milky Way.

Prof. Alexander Lutovinov, IKI deputy director and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, gave a presentation about the history and modern achievements of space science to the participants of the special program “300 Years of the RAS: A Fundamental View of the World,” organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Artek International Children's Center. He also answered the question — why study the Universe at all.

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.

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