Satellites of the group "Dauria Aerospace" do not get in touch

On July 14, 2017, the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with a payload from the large Canopus-V-IK satellite and 72 small spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur launch site, setting a new record for the domestic astronautics in terms of quantity spacecraft displayed in space.

So begins the article "We found the satellite MAYAK in orbit" on the GT. The article is devoted to one of these 72 small satellites - the Mayak satellite of type 3U CubeSat (Moscow Polytechnic University). About this satellite told the article "Man-made star will call into space" on the GT before launch, and in the comments to it were not a few broken copies. The satellite was launched under the contract of JSC Glavkosmos. Also, under the contract, the domestic Iskra-MAI-85 type 3U CubeSat (Moscow Aviation Institute) and the Ecuador UTE-SWGU type 1U CubeSat (South-West State University) were launched into this launch.



Two satellites in this group were launched under federal contracts:

• Spacecraft "- №1" type 6U CubeSat (Russia, Dauria, commissioned by ROSCOSMOS);
• Spacecraft "MCA-N number 2" type 6U CubeSat (Russia, Dauria, commissioned by ROSCOSMOS).

A private space company in Russia is constantly drawing attention to GT. About them and the Mayak spacecraft before launch on GT a richly illustrated article “The Great Flight of Small Satellites” was published .









The satellites of Dauria should have been launched in 2015. The process of creating satellites was loud - “A criminal case was initiated against the Dauria Aerospace group” , accompanied by mutual accusations and complaints.



CNews: “The Russian company persecuted by Roscosmos launched the first private satellites under the state order” , 07/14/2017:

Two satellites, assembled by a private Russian company under a state order, have been launched into orbit. The launch was to be held in 2015, but was postponed. “Roskosmos” twice filed a contractor with a court for non-performance of work on time, but he himself received in response a lawsuit for 86 million rubles.

The last time Roscosmos sued Dauria Aerospace in March 2017 - RNS: “The court on May 17 will consider the claim of Roscosmos against Dauria Aerospace for 16.5 million rubles” :

The Moscow Arbitration Court accepted for consideration the application of the Roscosmos State Corporation to the private space company Dauria Aerospace for the recovery of a penalty for violation of the terms of the execution of the contract in the amount of 16.5 million rubles, according to the court materials.



A preliminary hearing on the application is scheduled for May 17. In Dauria Aerospace confirmed the presence of a claim by the state corporation.



“In working order, we did not manage to come to an agreement on the amount of the fine. We treat the reasons for the delay in the delivery of the first stage of the state contract execution with the customer in different ways. We are preparing to defend our position in court. We expect that the court will objectively approach the consideration of our issue and make a fair decision, ”a company representative told RNS.

In fairness, we can say that Roscosmos does not have a grudge specifically on Dauria Aerospace.



Free press: "Is there a future for the national cosmonautics?" :

To understand Roscosmos to some extent is also possible. If there are missed deadlines, not covered with pieces of paper, then other controllers will knock on top of them. Yes, and money with regular cuts in funding for the federal space program is not enough for everything in any case. After obtaining the status of a state corporation, Roskosmos had its own responsibilities for fulfilling 44-, under which they place orders at enterprises and institutes. The main scourge of astronautics is the bureaucracy and obstinacy of the public administration system as a whole. Roscosmos cannot just take and distribute grants for the creation of something new to several companies, and then choose the best result, like NASA.

Interestingly, a vacancy was posted on Hh.ru at the same time interval:

The NPP DAURIA company needs a radio electronics engineer to perform the design and development of antenna-feeder systems (AFS) and airborne radio complexes (BRK) of spacecraft (SC), selection of airborne and ground radio equipment for providing communication channels, calculating the energy budgets of the channels communications, design of radio-electronic devices and spacecraft circuits, participation in testing the radio-frequency paths of spacecraft and their components.

It would seem that after the launch there should appear articles with first photos, news about a successful launch and close this scandalous question. But there was silence in the media. At FB, my attention was attracted by the communication of users having a relationship or connection in the Russian space program. Communication on the topic of Dauri can be described as “they giggled, winked and pushed each other with their elbows to the side,” throwing incomprehensible fragments of phrases about certain employees of Dauria.



Returning almost a month later from Evpatoria, I did not see any news either on the off-site of Dauria or in the media. Only all the same people on the FB have already mentioned some extraordinary situation.



At the same time, the encyclopedist comment appeared on the GT under the article “The Big Flight of Little Satellites”

08.23.17 at 22:19

How are the satellites of Dauria? And then the launch was a month ago, but there is no statement.

To which he himself responded with reference to an article dated August 23, 2017 of Izvestia: “Two Russian satellites did not communicate after launch into orbit” .

According to Izvestia, a source in the rocket and space industry, the spacecraft MKA-N, after a regular launch into orbit for an unknown reason, could not turn on and the specialists have not been able to communicate with them for more than a month. While satellites are not considered lost.



- Means of removal worked normally. Launch containers with these satellites also worked out regularly, which is confirmed by telemetry data. However, the devices did not come in contact. Currently, Roscosmos and Dauria Aerospace specialists continue to make attempts to contact spacecraft. The reasons for the technical failure are not yet clear to anyone, the Izvestia source said.

In "Roskosmos" refrained from any comments, not confirming and not denying information about the emergency situation with the devices.



Several other sources of Izvestia also confirmed that they were aware of the emergency situation with the ICA-N satellites. A source close to Roskosmos told Izvestia that the state corporation will study the question of presenting financial claims to the developer of Dauria Aerospace apparatus if technical problems cannot be resolved.

The source of “Izvestia” is a rather interesting character, I have noticed for a long time that under such a wording “Izvestia” almost always credible leaks from the depths of the “domestic cosmos” are published. For me it was a clear "bell".



A week later, on August 29, 2017, the publication “Dauria Aerospace” was looking for the causes of a nonstandard situation with ICA-N satellites on the off-site of Dauria.

... Employees of the company have done a significant amount of work on entering into communication with spacecraft. A modernization of ground communication stations of the company. Both our staff and non-staff controls and additional funds from our partners and colleagues are involved in the work. We thank them for their support and assistance. However, with regret we must state that communication with MCA-N cannot be established.



The satellites are in regular solar synchronous orbit, so the work on entering into communication with them will continue.



At the moment, Dauria Aerospace specialists are considering several possible causes of the emergency situation and the procedure for further actions. Among the working hypotheses of the incident are considered both internal causes related to the design of the devices, the quality of components and software, and the likelihood of external influence.



In order to clarify all the circumstances and clarify the causes of the abnormal situation with the ICA-N, our company openly appeals to all organizations and commercial companies whose spacecraft were displayed in this launch:



We understand that considerations of trade secrets or the credibility of an organization do not favor full openness. We ourselves waited 40 days in the hope that a miracle would happen, and the satellites would “rise”. Perhaps, in the process of separating your spacecraft, or during the establishment of communication with them, or in the course of further activities, did you find any deviations from the norm in their work? This information would greatly help Dauria Aerospace in identifying the causes of the problem with the ICA-H. We invite to dialogue and discussion in the form that suits all parties.

In Glavkosmos, they do not yet know the reasons why the satellites launched under federal contracts do not get in touch.



September 1, 2017 Lenta.ru: A possible reason for the unsuccessful launch of five satellites by the Soyuz was made public .

Otherwise, the head of the launch programs of Glavkosmos assesses the situation with the satellites of Russian developers. “This is their first experience in the development of Kubsat,” he said. “Maybe something happened on the development side, either with components, or with ground stations.”



Earlier, Space News reported that of the 73 satellites launched on Soyuz-2.1a, two American were in unplanned orbits, and four Russian did not get in touch. These are two cubes from Dauria Aerospace - the Mayak collected by the crowdfunding funds and the Iskra-MAI-85 student from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Later, the university disavowed problems with its apparatus.

As a result. Ahead, another Roscosmos lawsuit against Dauria Aerospace emerges, in which Dauria will defend the position of serviceability of its vehicles that have passed pre-flight tests and argue for force majeure circumstances - during the separation of your spacecraft, or during communication with them , or in the course of further activities, you have identified any deviations from the norm in their work. ”



For now, this situation resembles an old joke:

... A young specialist tells the mentor:

- Why are you silent, because we have a lot of imperfections, the rocket will not fly!

- Sit and be quiet!

Seven, six ...

- Now it will explode, I will inform you myself!

- Believe my experience, sit down and be quiet.

Four, three ... Then the representative of another company jumps up and shouts:

- Stop the launch, we have shortcomings!

Then an experienced specialist tells the young:

- You see, it was their fault that the launch of the rocket was disrupted.

It remains to hope that private astronautics in the Russian Federation will not end on this incident.