Seminar on Mechanics, Control and Informatics of the Space Research Institute (IKI) works since 1968. It was established after the creation of the Ballistic Department at the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The first Head of the Department was Pavel Eliasberg. He also became the organizer and the first leader of the Seminar. At the beginning, the meetings mainly dealt with issues of determining the trajectory of space objects based on measurements data and, in particular, with methods of guaranteeing estimation, as well as problems of determining variations in atmospheric density, navigational binding of scientific measurements, spacecraft orientation, processing optical ground-based satellite observations and mathematical processing of scientific information in order to determine physical parameters of celestial bodies from observations.
In the late 80s, when P.E. Elyasberg had already retired, the Seminar was headed by his student and successor in the position of Head Ravil Nazirov. Since that time, the topics of the reports began to expand: both theoretical aspects and various problems related to the applications of methods of celestial mechanics and astrodynamics were discussed at the meetings. A wide range of mathematical modeling issues was considered, not only in space research, but also in related fields of science, as well as issues of the history of the development of rocket and space technology and space exploration. Many prominent scientists and specialists from various organizations made presentations at the Seminar. A very significant role in the development of the seminar was played by Boris Rabinovich, an outstanding scientist, who worked at IKI as a chief researcher from 1993 to 2010. In the 1990s, thematic field seminar sessions began to be regularly held at the Intercosmos IKI representative office in Tarusa. The materials of the meetings began to be regularly published in the form of collections, of which more than 12 have already been published. Since 1999 photographs, presentations, audio and video recordings of sessions and reports have been freely available on the Internet on the Seminar's website, which made it possible to create a unique archive, which today contains materials from more than two hundred events.
Since 2020, due to the pandemic, the Seminar has been held in an online format, and after the restrictions were lifted, the meetings returned to the traditional offline format with the possibility of remote participation via video. In 2024, in honor of the 110th anniversary of Pavel Eliasberg's birth, the Seminar was named after its founder.
In 2025, leading researcher Natan Eismont became the Head of the seminar. Today, the participants and speakers include both recognized scientists in various fields of space research, as well as young specialists, graduate students and students.