Tatyana (Universitetsky)

Launch data: Designation  28523 / 05002C Launch date  20 Jan 2005 - 03:00 UT Launch site  Pl, LC-132/1 Launch vehicle  Cosmos-3M (11K65M) Mission  Technology, radiation studies Earth orbit on 20 Jan - 13:12 UT: Perigee / Apogee  913 x 967 km Inclination  82.95° Period  103.83 min

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor  MGU University Operator  Moscow State University (MGU) Platform   Mass at launch  30 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension   Solar array  Solar cells Stabilization   DC power   Design lifetime  1 year

Tatyana on Cosmos 2414 satellite

Mission details:

• A 30 kg student satellite for radiation studies, "Universitetskiy", was ejected from Cosmos-2414. The satellite was built by students at MGU (Moskovskiy Gosudarstvenniy Universitet) for the university′s 250th anniversary, and is nicknamed 'Tatyana' since the university′s anniversary day is St. Tatyana′s day.
• The project envisages the creation of a space-based platform for experiments to be conducted by scholars, university professors and students. The satellite will provide communication with MGU branches and ensure tele-education. The university funded the launch. All the satellite′s devices were made by MGU scholars and students.
• On 6 March 2007, around 2100 UTC, the satellite stopped transmitting data, at least according to a diagram available on the MSU web site. MSU officials before the launch had said the expected life time of Universitetsky would be one to three years. Considering the fact that the spacecraft had been operational for more than two years, it wouldn′t be unusual if it stopped working after this period of time. Russian news agencies about one month later quoted unnamed Russian "space experts" as saying this failure may have been the result of some kind of U.S. "military experiment." U.S. officials immediately dismissed those reports.
  Russian space agency Roskosmos issued a statement saying such an attack was unlikely. Because Universitetsky was a student satellite, a more likely scenario is that someone uplinked an incorrect command, the agency said.

External links:

• Space Monitoring: Satellite Information
• dk3wn: Satellite Information
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking