News

Dumitru Popescu ARCA Team Leader

One of our teams announced some exciting news at the Google Lunar X PRIZE Team Summit, held last month at the International Space University. ARCA, our team from Romania, announced the upcoming launch of their STABILO rocket system – and added that they will fly some components of their lunar system in that launch. They plan on launching sometime in the second half of 2008 and hope to fly to an altitude of 100km. This milestone is an important one: the first space launch directly related to the Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the first space launch related to the Ansari X PRIZE since the final flight of SpaceShipOne. ARCA said that they are combining the STABILO and European Lunar Lander (ELL) vehicles. The STABILO was first designed for the European Private Manned Space Program and is an offshoot of their Ansari X PRIZE vehicle. The ELL was designed specifically for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. ARCA is hoping to successfully complete two main objectives: send the STABILO vehicle on a space flight, which would be a step forward for their manned program; and test the ELL module in space, which would also be the first flight in the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition. ARCA also announced that they are working with a former competitor from the Ansari X PRIZE: Pablo DeLeon and Associates. It’s always great to see our teams, current and former alike, working together. We wish ARCA the best of luck on their flight! For more information on ARCA’s test flight, visit their Team page.