The roots of polynomial $ p(a) $ are:
$$ \begin{aligned}a_1 &= 9.0123\\[1 em]a_2 &= -0.0062+0.3331i\\[1 em]a_3 &= -0.0062-0.3331i \end{aligned} $$Polynomial $ a^3-9a^2-1 $ has no rational roots that can be found using Rational Root Test, so the roots were found using qubic formulas.