Governmental program - Research and Education Ministry / Contract 81032

Duration: 36 months

Budget: 780000 USD (1870000lei) / Private: 54000 USD (130000lei)

The project „Vehicle for commercial exploitation of suborbital space – VECSS” propose to design, lanunch and recovery a vehicle intended for transportation of scientific commercial payload, to 100 km altitude.
The project proposal which can be retrieved in the Programme 4 objectives: it’s creating a partenership, it’s accomplishing a product, it’s conceiving a technology, it’s creating a base for implementing a service and the product will answer to the necessity of solving some complex problems. By proposing the achievment, operation and recovering of a system able to execute suborbital missions, VECSS is engaging in „8 – Space and security” research direction/ the tematical priority research direction: „8.3 – Aerospatial technologies and infrastructures”/ specific objective: „8.3.2. of Launching, operation and recovering systems for suborbital missions.”
VECSS presents two priorities: unpolutant propulsion of a suborbital system and the pressurized compartment of large dimensions for payloads (the most voluminous so far). The propulsion system uses 70% hydrogen peroxide as monocomponent (reaction products being: water vapors and oxygene).
VECSS will be a system built with two stages: a carrier baloon and a reusing rocket vehicle. The carrier baloon will transport the rocket vehicle to the altitude of 20000m. At that altitude, the rocket vehicle will detach from the carrier baloon, will start the engine, contining the ascension to the altitude of 43000m where the rocket engine will stop, the ascension continuing inertially to more than 100000m. After engine stopping, will come the imponderability, until the returning, at the reaching of the dense layers of the atmosphere. This is the optimal period to achieve numerous scientifical experiments. It will come the returning into the terrestrial atmosphere and recovering using the parachutes.

VECSS project will be achieved in 5 phases:
Phase I - GENERAL CONCEVING AND DIMENSIONING OF THE SUBORBITAL VEHICLE
Phase II - SUBORBITAL VEHICLE AND SUPPORT ELEMENTS DESIGN
Phase III - SUBORBITAL VEHICLE COMPONENTS CONSTRUCTION
Phase IV – ON GROUND TESTING OF COMPONENTS AND SUBORBITAL SYSTEM ASSEMBLY
Phase V - PREPARATIONS AND ACHIEVING THE FLIGHTS 1 AND 2

Such project generates important scientifical and technical rezults which can be valued, generating an important impact from social, economical and enviromental point of view. The potential beneficiars are economical agents who could wish the achievement and commercial operating of the system. ARCA is directly interesed of ulterior commercial exploiatation of the achieved rezults.

Estimated Objectives and Results

General objective of the project is: building a suborbital system, a terrestrial infrastructure, that will be operated in commercial regime, at altitudes of over 100km, considered by convention the cosmic space limit, having superior performance worldwide, either from technical point of view and also from operarational cost point of view. The vehicle will be also equipped with an automatic high resolution teledetection system which will allow the aquisition, processing, stocking up and transmission of high resolution images.
Specifical objectives (measurables) are: designing, construction, testing on-ground/in flight and recovering of a suborbital vehicle and of terrestrial infrastructure elements. Measurable objectives are: three carrier baloons (one for captiv test on ground) and a rocket vehicle, terrestrial infrastructure (testing systems, command and control flight system).

Consortium

ARCA - Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association
System conception, design and construction, including: solar balloons, presurized capsules, roecket engines, presurized fuel tanks, recovery parachutes, ground infrastructure. System operation on ground and inflight.

ROSA - Romanian Space Agency
Onboard teledetection system design and construction. System operation on ground and inflight.

CCIZ - Flight Research Center
Avionics design, construction and integration. System operation on ground and inflight.

ISS - Institute for Space Sciences
Onboard teledetection system design and construction. System operation on ground and inflight.

UB - University of Bucharest
Onboard teledetection system design and construction. System operation on ground and inflight.

SC SIARM SA
CAD drawings. General conception. System operation on ground and inflight.

Project Manager

Born: November 15, 1973 in Rm. Valcea. In 1997 he studied at the Craiova University – Chemistry Faculty – Post-graduate PhD Chemistry. He is a member of ARCA since 2002. Since then he had a great contribution to the development of rocket engines, rocket fuel tanks, and flight dynamics computer programs. He participated to the ground and flight tests of Demonstrator 2B rocket and Stabilo’s Mission 1 and 2. In 2006 he lead the governmental military application program STRACAAT developed at ARCA. Since September 2007 he is leading the VECSS government funded project with the goal of developing a low cost balloon launched suborbital vehicle. During this program Teodor will be in charge with the development of ship’s subsystems as well as with the flight dynamics.

Latest News

January 4, 2009 - Rm. Valcea
VECSS project Phase III - SUBORBITAL VEHICLE COMPONENTS CONSTRUCTION, completed today.

September 12, 2008 - Rm. Valcea
VECSS project Phase III - SUBORBITAL VEHICLE COMPONENTS CONSTRUCTION, is under development. Consortium partners are working in order to complete this phase at the beginning of 2009.

December 5, 2007 - Bucharest
Consortium partners achieved first milestone on the project as the GENERAL CONCEVING AND DIMENSIONING OF THE SUBORBITAL VEHICLE Phase I was completed.