2nd of February 2001 From Xavier Desert:


Here is a telephone message from Jacques Delabrouille who is with the
Russian Archeops recovery team led by David Shifrin.

The gondola was found yesterday (Wednesday the 31st of January) and
work has continued even today for the recovery after a camping night
at -30 deg.C. The gondola landed rather well considering the large
number of high trees in this Russian area (see maps on the web). It
landed on the deep snow (1.5 meter), flat on its 6 crash pads. The
flight chain which includes the parachutes and some CNES housekeeping
boxes was stopped by some trees, so it did not drag the experiment.
The mirrors of the telescope, the cryostat and its electronics, the
onboard data recorder, the Fast Stellar Sensor, the front baffle and
most of the aluminium structure are intact. The only severely damaged
part of the gondola is one metal bar and the CNES fast telemetry
(orange and white) box below the cryostat that was pierced by a tree
on landing. It was probably this box that absorbed most of the shock
at landing. The gondola was carried by helicopter to a nearby path for
further packing. It should be back to Kiruna within a few days.


Jacques was interviewed by local TV and in Russian! He told me
that it was the coldest experience of his life but he survived! I think
the all recovery team deserves our warmest congratulations.