Research of the Sun was started in the institute in 1947th onboard rockets R1a and, with the beginning of the space era, were continued using the artificial Earth satellites. In 1957, the scientist of Lebedev Institute for the first time observed short wavelength emission of the Sun from onboard of the second Russian satellite ("Sputnik-2"). In 1963, the first X-ray image of the Sun was obtained. At the end of the 1960s, the first X-ray spectra with the wavelength shorter than 10 angstrom were registered.

Today the laboratory is the leading Russian center to design and construct space telescopes for solar researches. The instruments created in the laboratory operated onboard several "Intercosmos" satellites, onboard interplanetary Fobos stations, and onboard three spacecrafts launched in the frameworks of the CORONAS space program. Now the laboratory is working on developing four scientific instruments intended for the Russian space mission "Interhelioprobe." The laboratory team is also responsible for the "ARKA" project - unique solar telescopes that will provide for the first time the images of solar corona with a spatial resolution of about 100 km. The laboratory also participates in several other projects.

The laboratory has approximately 30 staff members.