July 28, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Roland Coelho
(805) 756-5087
rcoelho@calpoly.edu

Amy Hewes
(805) 756-6402
ahewes@calpoly.edu

Russian Officials Discuss Preliminary Data on Crash
of Rocket Bearing Student CubeSats

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Cal Poly aerospace graduate students learned more late last week on the crash of the Russian rocket carrying their picosatellites.

The student team on the ground in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, heard a briefing from Vladimir Mikhailov, first deputy director general at Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Grad students Armen Toorian and Lori Brooks, along with Cal Poly Sponsored Programs Director Jill Keezer, are “on the ground” in Baikonur. The next CubeSat project launch, involving universities from across the U.S. and the globe, is set for Dec. 2.

Update from ISC Kosmotras, at Baikonur City, Kazakhstan
Thursday, July 27, 2006 (Kazakhstan, Russia)
Vladimir Mikhailov, First Deputy Director General:

"You all know that yesterday [Thursday July 27] we tried to perform a launch mission. That launch attempt resulted in failure. First of all, I would like to say that on behalf of all of the organizations that were involved in this launch mission (Federal Space Agency of Russia, the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the administration of Baikonur city) we would like to extend words of apology for this failure. We deeply regret what has happened.

I'm going to give you some information on certain aspects of yesterday's events, and our plans for the future. We had a successful lift-off yesterday. Up to a certain moment of time during the launch vehicle flight, the flight parameters of the launch vehicle were nominal. During the second minute of flight, the first stage motor shut down. We have telemetry data to that moment, and until the rocket hit the ground. The telemetry data will allow us to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the cause of the failure.

We will be able to investigate, in detail, what has caused this failure. The State Watch Committee meeting was going over [the events of flight] tonight. This morning, as soon as the sun rose, an airplane was used to fly over the impact/debris area. However, we are [still] unable to confirm that the debris area has been definitely located. The search and rescue operations are continuing even now.

The recovery team has been formed and is standing by. As soon as the location of the debris area is definitely known, they will proceed to recover all the hardware that may be found at the crash site. The primary task of the recovery team is to collect as much of the debris on site as possible, including what's left of the rocket and satellites. It's quite likely that nothing is left. In the very near future we will know for sure if anything is left or not, and we will be sure to keep you informed.

There is another thing I would like to highlight. Even now you will find in the mass media information that is distorted, such as the cause of this launch failure. For instance, there was misinformation regarding the altitude at which the accident occurred, and the [corresponding] distance from the launch pad. Somebody got confused and gave the wrong information. I believe that the most accurate and appropriate information will be provided by our company directly.

This is all of the information that we have to date. Unfortunately we do not have any details regarding the cause of the failure. The state launch committee has authorized all activities [necessary] to perform analysis of the launch failure during the month of August. Currently they are in the process of forming an investigation commission, which will be responsible for thorough analysis, and reporting, of the cause of the failure.

Once again we would like to apologize and to express our regret for what has happened. However, we also hope for your understanding. We're dealing with very complex hardware. Everything is possible in the launch business."

- From the Cal Poly Cube Sat site. Read more at www.cubesat.org or the Kosmotras Website Update (www.kosmotras.ru).

Click Here to watch the launch video
Click Here for audio of the launch