IPAC was established in 1986 on the campus of the California Institute of Technology , and originally provided expertise and support for the processing and analysis of data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). IPAC was designed from the beginning to be a center staffed by a team of scientists, development specialists, and administrative staff that would work closely with Caltech faculty members in supporting NASA-sponsored infrared missions/programs. Our location on the Caltech campus was selected to insure easy access by the astronomical community at large, and to facilitate frequent interactions with campus faculty.

The scientific and technical expertise of the IPAC staff was one of the many heritages from IRAS, prompting NASA to designate IPAC as the U.S. science support center for the European Infrared Space Observatory (ISO). While ISO ceased operations in 1998, IPAC continued its archiving activities and institutional support of the US-based community through the end of 2001. IPAC has also assumed the lead role in various other infrared space missions, including the Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) and the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX)

Its unique capabilities made IPAC the obvious choice for processing the many terabytes of data from the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), a ground-based near-infrared survey of the entire sky led by the University of Massachusetts. UMass developed and operated the two observatories that acquired the data. IPAC's role included design of survey strategy, data processing, quality control, and the production of final catalogs and final data products from the primary survey and the extended mission.

As the amount of archived infrared data began to increase substantially, various groups began to organize these data into massive databases that have since become an integral part of conducting research. The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) was created in the late 1980s, and ongoing efforts ensure that it remains the pre-eminent repository for data, images and published references for objects outside our Milky Way Galaxy. The NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA) offers one-stop shopping for infrared data obtained from NASA missions, with special emphasis on software tools and Internet services. IRSA is a component of NASA's distributed Space Science Data System (SSDS), leveraging resources at other NASA centers and elsewhere to enable new functionality, while at the same time supporting and collaborating with these remote archive systems.

In early 1998, IPAC was designated as the science operations center for the Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly SIRTF) The Spitzer Science Center (SSC), an autonomously managed entity within IPAC, relies on the skills and knowledge of IPAC experts in its role as the science support center for Spitzer.

In 1999, NASA and JPL created the Michelson Science Center (MSC), another autonomously managed group within IPAC. The MSC is chartered to serve as the primary science support center for current and future NASA infrared and optical interferometers, both on the ground and in space. The MSC presently supports testing and the analysis of data from two ground-based facilities: the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) in southern California and the Keck Interferometer in Hawaii.

IPAC extended its reach into the ultraviolet when it was named to be the data processing center for the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). This all-sky UV survey is based at Caltech and was launched in 2003. Mission operations will continue through at least 2005.

Finally, IPAC expanded its function into a new realm in 1998, through the establishment of an innovative and award-winning education and public outreach (EPO) program.