The institute was founded in 1963 as a sub-institute of the Max-Planck-Institut für Physik und Astrophysik and established as an independent institute in 1991. Its main research topics are astronomical observations in spectral regions (such as Far-Infrared, X-ray and Gamma-ray) which are only accessible from space because of the absorbing effects of the Earth's atmosphere, as well as in-situ measurements in near-Earth space investigating the collisionless interaction of cosmic plasmas.

• Max Planck Society