The Space Research Institute (Institut fuer Weltraumforschung, IWF) focuses on the physics of our solar system and the diversity of exoplanets. With about 100 staff members from 20 nations it is one of the largest institutes of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Oesterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, OeAW). The institute is located in the Victor Franz Hess Research Center of OeAW. At the Lustbuehel Observatory it operates a satellite laser ranging station, which is one of the best in the world.

The IWF is the only institute in Austria that develops and builds space-qualified instruments on a large scale. The data returned by them are scientifically analyzed and physically interpreted at the institute. IWF’s core engineering expertise is in building magnetometers and on-board computers, as well as in laser ranging to satellites and space debris.

Space has been explored with the help of satellites for more than 60 years and still poses many puzzles. Since the beginning of the 1980s, IWF has contributed/is contributing to more than 40 international space missions with over 100 scientific instruments. The institute is currently involved in 23 projects led by the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA or national space agencies in Japan, Russia, China, and South Korea. The missions cover fleets of satellites in near-Earth space, the observation of the Sun, and the exploration of planets such as Mercury, Jupiter, and extrasolar planets. From building the instruments to analyzing their data, these projects last 10-30 years. While IWF has already „harvested“ the data from past missions and the scientists are eagerly analyzing the data from the current missions, in the laboratory the sophisticated sensors and instruments for future missions are being developed.