According to the head of the expedition, UrFU professor Victor Grokhovskt, the Antarctic expedition is a complex and expensive research project. “For a long period of time Ural Federal University has carried out meteorite studies. For almost 30 years the only one student meteorite expedition in Russia has worked in the university. The Ekaterinburg laboratory also carries out research of meteorite fragments. Now we plan to launch the first Master program in Russia in Space Mineralogy”.
Antarctic serves as a magnet for extraterrestrial substances. There are meteorites and dust from the Moon and Mars in the blue ice of the South Pole. The members of the expedition are going to share the research expedition results with their colleagues from other countries.
The estimated budget of the expedition is 8-12 million rubles; the major part of the funds for scientific research was provided by Ural Federal University. Due to efforts of the UrFU Students Union more than 1 Million rubles was raised through online crowd-funding; local and international sponsors made their input as well.