ARRL Web site wrote:
SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS005 ARLS005 Massive CubeSat launch fails
ZCZC AS05 QST de W1AW Space Bulletin 005 ARLS005
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT July 27, 2006 To all radio amateurs
SB SPACE ARL ARLS005 ARLS005 Massive CubeSat launch fails
An attempt to launch 15 CubeSats from 11 universities and one private company failed July 26. Fourteen of the CubeSats, now lost, carried Amateur Radio transmit-only payloads.
The Dnepr-1LV rocket lifted off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1943 UTC on July 26. Space Launch Report cites payload users as reporting that the mission went awry sometime after first-stage separation. An Interfax, report said an emergency shutdown of the rocket's main engine initiated 86 seconds after launch, shortly before the first stage would have completed its burn. Gazeta.kz reported the vehicle fell to Earth almost 190 km from the launch site.
Originally set for June 28, the launch had been postponed until July 26. The CubeSat project was a collaboration between California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo and Stanford University's Space Systems Development Laboratory. All of the CubeSats were designed and built by students at various universities in the US and elsewhere in the world.
Thirteen of the satellites were to have downlinks in the Amateur Radio satellite allocation between 435 and 438 MHz, and one was to operate on 145.980 MHz. None of the spacecraft carried a transponder. Transmitter power outputs ranged from 10 mW to 2 W.
According to Satellite Launch Report, the original Dnepr launcher was replaced by a different one in June after a problem was detected in the original vehicle's digital flight control system. The Dnepr vehicle is a repurposed SS-18 "Satan" three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile. NNNN /EX