IAR 111 ‘Excelsior’ supersonic mothership
Photo credit: arcaspace.com

ARCA’s story begins in 1998, when a few aerospace engineering students visiting Sibiu city (not far from where the Memorial House of rocketry and astronautics founding father Hermann Oberth sits) vowed to give the until then lacklustre Romanian aerospace research some impetus. One of these enthusiasts was ARCA president Dumitru Popescu. In 1999, ARCA was legally registered as a non-governmental association.

ARCA’s headquarters and yards are located in the Pausesti-Maglasi commune, ten kilometers from Ramnicu Valcea. This is where the Romanian dream of the first home-built supersonic aircraft developed by Romanian engineers is taking wing.

“ARCA appeared out of the necessity to create and do positive things, to do applied research and strive for reaching as high as possible, because our major goal is to go to the outer space, this is where we started from,” explains Dumitru Popescu.

ARCA’s achievements are already well known. Among them, the Demonstrator 2 Rocket, equipped with the world’s first engine made of composite, reusable material, and which was successfully launched on September 9, 2004 from the Cape Midia Air Force Polygon. This was the first 100 percent Romanian-made civil rocket. Then there is Stabilo — the suborbital manned vehicle that has accomplished two missions so far, the second completed in 2007, at 12,000 m above the Black Sea. Also worth mentioning is the suborbital rocket HELEN 2, a technological demonstrator for the Google Lunar X Prize Competition.

Actually, the main objective of ARCA’s spatial program is the launch of a lunar probe capable of beaming images from the Moon down to the Earth.

“There were 20 teams left in the contest, who are allowed to use only 10 percent government funding, the rest of 90 percent must come from private funds. ARCA has so far used only private funds, as the Romanian Government and local and county administrations did not get involved in sponsoring it,” says Dumitru Popescu.

Another ARCA first rank achievement is HAAS II, a three-stage rocket built for the Lunar X Prize Competition, which is capable to place a 400 kg payload into low Earth orbit. ARCA started to build the IAR 111 Excelsior supersonic jet as a carrier for the HAAS II rocket, for taking it to the launching altitude. This is the first Romanian supersonic aircraft and will also be used for the development of spatial technologies, for space tourism.

The second engine of the supersonic being built at Pausesti-Maglasi was completed to an extent of 50 percent; overall, four complete aggregates and 12 combustion chambers need to be built. The Executor engine uses liquid oxygen as oxidizer and kerosene as fuel. The engine’s vacuum thrust is 23 tonnes-force and its maximum operation time during flight is 190 seconds. Thanks to the extensive use of composite materials and duralumin, the Executor engine weighs only 210 kg, which results in a thrust / weight ratio of 110, the best ever achieved by a European engine. ARCA expects an even better ratio after the completion of the tests.

“Executor is ARCA’s most important program so far. When the tests are completed, we will have a high technology product, a top-notch achievement at European and global scale. We pride ourselves with the fact that this is a privately-financed Romanian program. Executor will allow us to approach orbital flights. We were very particular about building all engine components at ARCA’s site. As we don’t depend on subcontractors, costs are lower and we have greatly increased the speed of execution. Moreover, any necessary change regarding performance enhancement will be easily and rapidly implemented,” says the ARCA president.

The latest achievement of the ARCA team was announced on February 13, 2014, when the electrically-powered unmanned air vehicle Air Strato took off for the first time, rose to the altitude of 25 meters, and then landed. Air Strato was powered by four electric engines, two of which had the role to reduce the take-off distance. Suspensions were installed on the landing gear for difficult track tests.

“The aircraft was equipped with 10 percent of the power accumulators required for the commercial version, so we added ballast to simulate the take-off weight. The additional engines were installed in order to increase the thrust on grassy field and reduce the take-off distance. The suspensions on the landing gear ensured a smooth run. It took just 30 m to take off using the engines at maximum thrust. The aircraft’s climb rate was impressive,” said ARCA flight dynamics engineer Teodor Diaconu.

Air Strato is an automatic, electrically powered machine that can reach heights of up to 18 km and has a flight range of seven hours with internal accumulators and three days, respectively, when using solar panels. It can carry a variable load of more than 30 kg, consisting of surveillance equipment and scientific instruments.

So, it is not long until the first Romanian supersonic will take to the skies, propelling Ramnicu Valcea to the constellation of international aeronautics centres, thanks to a team of dreamers who hone technological marvels here, in Pausesti-Maglasi. AGERPRES