EXCLUSIVE: Romania's lunar ballooners speak! - November 04, 2009
Any day now, the non-profit Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association (ARCA) will launch a high-altitude balloon with a rocket tied to the bottom from a ship in the Black Sea.
Actually its three rockets tied in what one reader creatively describes as "nunchuck staging". When the balloon reaches altitude, the first of the string of rockets will fire, carrying a small probe on a short suborbital trip. If all goes well, this proof-of-concept mission will pave the way for a launch balloon-based moon launch.
It's an unusual, some might argue slightly crazy, approach to rocketeering. But Bogdan Sburlea, ARCA's Project Manager, thinks it will work. He graciously agreed to answer some questions about this unorthodox proof-of-concept rocket, known as Helen.
How are you planning on attaching the Helen’s stages together? Will you use cable? Rope?
We will use cables of different diameters, the cable from the balloon to the first stage being the thickest.
How will you separate each stage when it has finished firing?
Actually, the separation will not take place after the previous stage finished firing. We will have about two seconds of simultaneous firing for stage one and two and later on for stage two and three. There are two reasons. The first is to avoid chaotic tensions in the cables. Firing the next stage before the previous stage shuts down means that there will be no moment in time when the tension in the cable becomes zero. The second reason is to avoid a collision between the stages.
Yes, the previous stage will become unstable during these few moments and will alter its trajectory. It will be enough to avoid a collision with the next stage. For separation, we use a pneumatic system for stages two and 3.
Are you worried that pendulum motion (swinging from side-to-side) might cause the rocket to become unstable?
This is not a concern for us, we modelled it and it works. If we are talking about the risks, that's a different story. There are associated risks with many critical activities, but we hope that we covered everything.
How high do you hope the rocket will carry the test vehicle? Will it go into orbit?
No, it will not. This is just a test. We need to check the launch from the water, the usage of world's largest solar balloon, not to mention the stabilization method and the strange position of the stages. We've got enough things to test; reaching orbit is not an objective for this launch.
How much have you spent developing the Helen? Who is paying?
We decided not to disclose the budget for the moment. There are many sources for the current budget, sponsorships and donations.
Do you have popular support in Romania?
Yes, we do. Many people are interested in what we do.
What will you do if the launch fails?
We will continue. Did SpaceX quit after the first failure? Or after the second failure?
Do you really think it will work?
Yes, we do. We have a huge advantage by being a small, private company: we can afford to test this.
When do you hope to get to the moon?
Before Google Lunar X Prize ends. We will do our best.
If you haven't seen it already (and chances are if you're a regular reader, you have), here's a video showing the Helen's flight plan:
Credit:ARCA
Comments
do you REALLY believe that ARCA will launch this rocket????
Posted by: ?????????????? | November 5, 2009 03:05 PM
>>>>>>>>>>
Q: "How much have you spent developing the Helen?"
A: "not so much... just the money to make this papier-mache rocket"
Posted by: oooooooooooooo | November 5, 2009 03:17 PM
For those that are arm chair critics of spaceflight, I'd have to say that ARCA is a very serious company here. This is not vapourware (unlike some other companies I won't mention here) and this company has some very serious development work going on, including the all too important "bent metal" to prove they are serious.
ARCA was one of the original Ansari X-Prize contestants (with Scaled Composites and Aramdillo Aerospace... and a few others that are still around), and are also currently registered as a Google Lunar X-Prize contestant. IMHO, they got at least 1:3 odds of actually winning 1st place in the GLXP right now, and one of the few in that contest which are making their own rockets instead of using the SpaceX Falcon 9 as many other contestants are doing.
They have, as a private company, put Romania into an exclusive club of nations: One of the few countries that might be able to have a home-grown spaceflight capability. That is huge for a country like Romania, and a source of foreign currency investment as well.
Yes, I do think this rocket is going to get launched, has a very high likelihood of working, and is something to seriously watch in terms of international efforts for spaceflight. The choice of launching over the Black Sea is interesting, and potentially one of the few significant spaceports that can be developed within the European Union.
Quite a bit is riding on the line here, but my prayers and wishes are with this group. God speed, ARCA!
Posted by: Robert Horning | November 6, 2009 04:51 PM
Decided to be launch, 10 nov, with the worst wheather possible :45km/h wind and 100% clouds.
Conclusion: NEVER lounch!
Posted by: Alex | November 6, 2009 07:52 PM