YEKATERINBURG, December 7. /TASS/. Russia's first meteorite expedition leaves for Antarctica next week to search for traces of meteorite substances, a team member told TASS on Monday.

"The expedition of the Urals Federal University will set off on December 14. We will change flights in Moscow, Dubai and Cape Town," Ruslan Kolunin said, adding that the group’s equipment was sent to the South African city in October.

An Il-76 plane will take the group to Novolazarevskaya, a Russian Antarctic research station at Queen Maud Land. After that, they will travel some 250 kilometres to the research site.

The $150,000 expedition will last for 20 days, returning to Russia in mid-January, which is midsummer in Antarctica.