The Laboratory of Meteoritics was formed in 1998 at the initiative of Academician E. M. Galimov. The Director of the Laboratory is Dr. D.D. Badyukov. The Laboratory has two divisions, the central division at the Vernadsky Institute in Moscow and a cosmochemistry division headed by Dr. V. A. Alekseev in Chernogolovka.
The Laboratory continues the research and scientific traditions of the Meteorite Committee, the Laboratory of Cosmochemistry and the Laboratory of Comparative Planetology and Meteoritics of the Vernadsky Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Laboratory's major objects of investigation are: meteorites, lunar soil, diffusely distributed extraterrestrial material in sedimentary rocks, impact craters and impactites.
The Laboratory operates modern materials-science equipment and highly sensitive detectors for low-level radiation in terrestrial and extraterrestrial materials.
The Laboratory develops new measurement techniques and devices.
The Laboratory holds the Russian lunar sample collection, the meteorite collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Vernadsky Institute Museum of Extraterrestrial Material and the meteorite exhibit at the Fersman Mineralogical Museum.
The Laboratory's staff includes 14 scientists, including 3 Doctors of Science and 6 PhDs.