meteorites.ru

What It Is

The Laboratory of Meteoritics at the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (GEOKHI RAS / ГЕОХИ РАН), is one of Russia’s leading institutions for the study of extraterrestrial materials. Although it is not an online education or course platform in the traditional sense, it plays an important role in science education and outreach through public lectures, museum access, and public meteorite identification services.

Core Dimensions

• Subject Areas and Format: Focuses on meteoritics, comparative planetology, and geochemistry. Its educational activities mainly take the form of in-person public science lectures and museum visits. This is non-systematic public science outreach rather than standardized online coursework.
• Faculty and Institutional Background: The institution has very strong credentials. It is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences and has 14 researchers, including 3 Doctors of Science and 6 Candidates of Science. It is led by Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Lorents K.A. and manages national-level collections of lunar samples and meteorites.
• Certification and Pricing: All services are free, including meteorite identification. However, the lab clearly states that it does not issue any certificates and does not participate in commercial buying or selling. If a new meteorite is discovered, 20% of its mass must be submitted to the national collection for international registration, while the finder retains 80%.

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Extremely authoritative from a research perspective; provides free and professional meteorite identification services; holds valuable extraterrestrial material collections; offers the public clear guidance on how to discover and report meteorites.
• Cons: The website design remains in an early-internet style, with an outdated information architecture; museum visits are subject to strict institute access controls and require advance booking on weekdays; the identification service does not return non-meteorite samples and does not assume postal risks; lacks structured online learning resources.

Who It’s For

Best suited for members of the public in Russia who have found suspected meteorites, astronomy and geology enthusiasts, and researchers who need authoritative meteorite data. It is not suitable for learners looking for structured courses or commercial certification.

Access from China

Unknown. As a .ru academic domain, it is usually likely to be directly accessible, though access may be partially affected by network fluctuations.