2006

December 2, 2006 – ONESTI
SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT!
The Mission 1 was launched today at an altitude of 14.700m. The cabin was recovered at 30 km distance from the launch point, as the recovery system worked perfectly. It wasn’t possible to climb at higher altitude because severe turbulences were encountered during the last part of the flight. As Mission 1 program was almost entirely completed, Mission 2 will be launched in February. We will return on this web site with more data and spectacular images in short time.

November 27, 2006 – RM. VALCEA
The tests of the STABILO ship will be supported by ARCA’s new sponsor: the CONSTRUCTIM SA Company. For more details about our sponsor go to: www.constructim.ro

November 23, 2006 – ONESTI
The Mission 1 flight scheduled for November 22 was canceled due to meteorological condition (clouds at 300-600 m above the launch site). In this situation it wasn't possible to inflate the Montgolfier solar balloon. The next attempt will take place between November 28 – December 4.

November 3, 2006 - BUCHAREST
The first flight of the STABILO's vehicle first stage+reserve crew cabin will take place on November 22, from near Onesti town - Bacau County. Press conference on November 21 in the same location.

October 17-21, 2006 – LAS CRUCES
ARCA president, Dumitru Popescu presented the STABILO suborbital vehicle at ISPS-2006:"I don't know if this vehicle is beautiful or not, but I'm sure that it is one of the most unconventional design ever proposed for a suborbital ship.", he said. The X Prize teams leaders discused about new colaboration opportunities after the end of the Competition. More interesting news about this in short time.

October 12, 2006 – BUCHAREST
The Mission 1 unmanned flight of the STABILO vehicle will take place in November. The exact date and location will be communicated soon. Nevertheless, it will be a European location. The flight altitude will be 24.000m. On this web site, you can find more news as the event approaches. “We are very excited about the STABILO program and Mission1 flight. We have a real space program under development and for the European private manned space activities, the Mission 1 flight could be an important moment.” - Andrei Hapenciuc, ARCA’s systems engineer.

October 3, 2006 – BUCHAREST
STRACAAT, ARCA’s military application rocket was presented to the Bucharest International Fair. The rocket financed by the government through the Romanian Space Agency- “SECURITY” Program, has a length of 4.1 m and is designed to fly with Mach 1.02 at sea level. The maximum flight altitude is 6.000 m. The main purpose of this project is to create a target able to simulate low altitude/high speed aggressor vehicles.

September 21, 2006 – RM. VALCEA
ARCA will participate at the X Prize CUP events scheduled for this year. ARCA President, Dumitru Popescu, will attend the International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight (ISPS-2006) - October 17, 2006 as a presenter. His presentation on TRACK 1 — VEHICLE ENTRY TO SPACE, will focus on the STABILO vehicle construction progresses and on the incoming flights. More details

September 18, 2006 – RM. VALCEA
"STABILO is the first completely new sub-orbital spaceship created after the end of the Ansari X Prize Competition. This clearly shows that our team is entirely devoted to continue the legacy of this unique competition and to consolidate the newborn industry of commercial manned space flight. We want the STABILO ship to stimulate other teams to pursuit in the creation of new vehicles.
We consider that the major preoccupation of the teams involved in private manned space flight activities must focus on the development of the flight hardware. Those are the tools that will allow to all of us to go forward.
The fact that we will join the EU in a few month, offers new opportunities that ARCA is ready to exploit it. We are right now building a strong collaboration between various European and US institutions and companies interested in the suborbital flights activities. I am convinced that together we will do a very good job and this new ship could be a strong point." - Dumitru Popescu, ARCA President. ARCA already started the flight tests of the STABILO vehicle. The first two flights at high altitude (22.000 m) will be unmanned. If successful, a first manned flight is scheduled for the spring of 2007.

April 30, 2006 – RM. VALCEA
The third tethered flight from the ARCA’s balloon program was a success, as the launched balloon was send to an altitude of 500 m. The flight was a step for the STABILO and ORIZONT programs.

April 21, 2006 – PARIS
ARCA received today a letter of intention from the ONERA headquarter from Paris that express ONERA’s intention for a collaboration with the ARCA team. In February, a delegation from ARCA spent one week at ONERA headquarter to discuss with the french engineers about a potential collaboration. Both teams identified elements of mutual interest as: propulsion technology, and suborbital flight in general.

April 8, 2006 – ALBUQUERQUE
Anca Gradinaru radio journalist was awarded with the third place prize at the Associated Press Gala from Albuquerque. The awarded documentary was about ARCA’s participation at the X Prize CUP event in Las Cruces. ARCA team congratulate Anca Gradinaru for this award!

February 23, 2006 – RM. VALCEA
STABILO’s composite materials fuel tanks successfully completed today the pressure tests. This open the way to the propulsion tests for the STABILO vehicle. The fuel tank is derived directly from the ORIZONT model fuel tank.

January 17, 2006 – BUCHAREST
ARCA’s project manager, Bogdan Sburlea, presented at the “SECURITY” Symposium held at the Romanian Academy, ARCA’s military application project, STRACAAT.

January 10, 2006 – BUENOS AIRES/RM. VALCEA
Former X Prize competitors, DeLeon Industries and ARCA, are partners. “DeLeon Industries worked a lot on life support systems, full pressure suits and cockpit design. ARCA has a little experience in this field, so it is more than necessary to work with DeLeon Industries. We have a lot of work to do together.”, said Dumitru Popescu, ARCA’s Chairman.

January 9, 2006 – RM. VALCEA
Three fuel tanks for the STABILO and ORIZONT vehicles are under construction. The work at this first series will be finished next week. Another series of three will be ready at the end of this month. Even that the start of the propulsion tests was announced in January, probably the tests will begin in February. We changed a little bit our work strategy. We wanted to finish all the necessary fuel tanks for this year in January.

More News from    2010     2009    2008    2007    2005    2004    2003    2002