It was established on 27 November 1963, by former Indonesian president Sukarno, after one year's existence of a previous, informal space agency organization.

[citation needed] On 22 September 1962, the Initial Scientific and Military Rocket Project (known in Indonesia as Proyek Roket Ilmiah dan Militer Awal or PRIMA) was formed by an affiliation of AURI (Indonesian Air Force) with ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology).

After two informal projects, the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) was established in 1963 by Presidential Decree 236.

[citation needed] For more than 20 years, LAPAN has done research on rocketry, remote sensing, satellites, and space sciences.

The Indonesian spacecraft is based on the German DLR-Tubsat, but includes a new star sensor and features a new 45 × 45 × 27 cm structure.

[10] The mission of LAPAN-A2, or LAPAN-ORARI, is Earth observation using an RGB camera, maritime traffic monitoring using an automatic identification system (AIS)—which can know name and flag of the ship registered, ship type, tonnage, current route, departure and arrival ports—and amateur radio communication (text and voice; ORARI is Indonesian Amateur Radio Organization).

The satellite will be launched, as a secondary payload of India's ASTROSAT mission, into a circular orbit of 650 km with an inclination of 8 degrees.

The plan is for an Antonov An-124 aircraft to deliver a Polyot space launch vehicle to the new Indonesian spaceport on Biak island (West Papua province).

The Antonov An-124 would then fly to 10 km altitude above the ocean east of Biak island to jettison the launch vehicle.

The main stumbling block is Russian concerns over compliance with the terms of the Missile Technology Control Regime; Russia is a co-signatory, Indonesia is not.

[19] In 2011, LAPAN planned to build a satellite to be launchpad at Enggano Island, Bengkulu province, located in the westernmost part of Indonesia, on the Indian Ocean.

The most strategic site for this launchpad is inside Nanua Bird Park, a place called Tanjung Laboko, which is 20 meters above sea level and far from residential areas.

[21] The Bengkulu Natural Resources Conservation Agency has expressed concerns about the plan, because both parks are habitats for a number of bird species native to Enggano Island.

[24] This island was selected according to the following criteria: The Stasiun Bumi Satelit Penginderaan Jauh (Remote Sensing Satellite Earth Station) is located at Parepare, South Sulawesi; it has been in operation since 1993.

Its main functions include receiving and recording data from earth observation satellites such as Landsat, SPOT, ERS-1, JERS-1, Terra/Aqua MODIS, and NPP.

[citation needed] These ground stations are located at Pekayon, Jakarta, and Biak; since 1982 they have been receiving, recording, and processing data from NOAA, MetOp, and Himawari weather satellites 24 times a day.

[citation needed] LAPAN manages Stasiun Peluncuran Roket (Rocket Launching Station) located at Pameungpeuk Beach in the Garut Regency on West Java (7°38′48″S 107°41′20″E / 7.646643°S 107.689018°E / -7.646643; 107.689018).

Starting in 1963, the facility was built through cooperation between Indonesia and Japan, as the station was designed by Hideo Itokawa, with the aim of supporting high atmospheric research using Kappa-8 rockets.

In 2020, Indonesia joined other nations in the hunt for habitable-zone exoplanets, after completion of new astronomical observatory center at Kupang Regency in East Nusa Tenggara province.

For decades, Indonesian astronomy depended on the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang, West Java, which was built in 1928 by the Dutch and which, at that time, had one of the largest telescopes in the southern hemisphere.

At present, the aerospace observatories of LAPAN are located at Pontianak-West Kalimantan, Pontianak-North Sulawesi, Kupang-East Nusa Tenggara, and Watukosek-East Java, and make observations relevant to climatology, meteorology, the sun, and Earth's magnetic field.

[26][citation needed] The observatory is built with the cooperation of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Nusa Cendana University (UNdana).

The aim of the observatory is to: Obnas is one of LAPAN's key strategic objectives, along with mastery of rocket technology, building a launch site, growing its National Remote Sensing Data Bank (BDPJN) and National Earth Monitoring System (SPBN), and overall technological development.

Budgetary issues surrounding the international credit crises of 2008–2009 placed many Indonesian technical projects in jeopardy, most especially the complete development of RX-420 and associated micro-satellite program to world-class standards ahead of project finalization schedule and the opportunity to work together with the world institutions.

[27] Beginning in 2005, LAPAN rejuvenated Indonesian expertise in rocket-based weapons systems, in cooperation with the Armed Forces of Indonesia (TNI).

Prior to this, eight projects were sponsored by the TNI in Malacca monitoring, using LAPAN-TUBsat, the theft of timber and alleged encroachment on Indonesian territorial waters in the 2009 escalation over Malaysia's claims to the huge gas fields off Ambalat-island.

The RX-420 had its first test flight at the launching station Cilauteureun, Pameungpeuk District, Garut regency, West Java.

The addition of RX-420 boosters to the RX-520 should increase lifting capacity to over 500 kilograms (1,100 lb), although if too expensive, the proven Russian Soyuz and Energiya rockets will likely be employed.