The Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) (Dutch: Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aeronomie - BIRA, French: Institut royal d'aéronomie spatiale de Belgique - IASB) is a Belgian federal scientific research institute. Created in 1964, 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. The scientists rely on ground-based, balloon-, air- or space-borne instruments and computer models.