The Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) is a Belgian federal scientific research institute, that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014. Its main tasks are research and public service in space aeronomy, which is the physics and chemistry of the atmosphere of the Earth and other planets, and of outer space.
Founded in 1957, the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed from a
single-satellite observatory into an important and comprehensive
astronomical research organization in the past few decades. With its
headquarters located in the regional capital of Urumqi, XAO also has
three sites in Nanshan, Kashgar and Qitai, and two other independent
ground stations.