Discussion ARCA's flying ocean launch platform

[Loru]

Executor and Venator

That rings some bells

 

[Ghostrider]

Rule of cool. But launching from the prow of a submarine (while submerged) might be even coolier...

 

[kamaz]

Executor and Venator

Who would ride in something called Executor?

 

[Pipcard]

Who would ride in something called Executor?

Darth Vader would.

 

[Ghostrider]

Darth Vader would.

Darth Vader could ride a tricycle and make it look cool.

Now I have this mental image of Darth Vader on a tricycle to get rid of.

The mental image, of course. Not Darth Vader on a tricycle. I mean, how do you get rid of Darth Vader on a tricycle?

 

[Spacethingy]

Boom! There we go!

Slightly more on topic, I think the PR value of this is probably the big thing. It certainly looks cool, although for a "startup", surely a more traditional approach would be more sensible?

 

[Wally]

I'm so embarrassed by this... Everytime someone mentions ARCA I close my eyes and hope it will go away.

ARCA is a complete joke. The team is comprised by a few amateurish engineers who just put up plans and nice models, but no actual work is done. No one in Romanian aerospace circles take them seriously. They never completed a project, but they keep bringing new ideas to the table. First, they were building a rocket, then a new, revolutionary engine, now they build a supersonic jet... It's insane how they can get away with this.

At some point, they've put some hilarious YouTube videos on their website, showing them in some kind of brainstorming session, while designing the supersonic jet. I think they finally realized how stupid it made them look and take them down. They claimed they work in a secret hangar, located in southern part of Romania. A private entity, building rockets, in a secret hangar... these guys think they are the villains in some sorts of a James Bond movie.

I don't know how they do it, but they are fooling bank and software companies to invest in them, so money flows towards ARCA. Also, they are very vocal in media and have some issues with Romanian Space Agency (ROSA), a government agency, affiliated to ESA. They issued malevolent press releases, picking on ROSA for no good reason. The press is hungry for their stories, since in their eyes, ROSA is a government agency, thus it must be corrupt, while a handful of bright citizens have the guts to build a space fairing association, which means they will bring great glory to our nation!

Bottom line, ARCA is fooling around, looking for the next investor, like they always did.

 

[Capt_hensley]

^ Better check your 6, looks like things are ramping up.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/mon...-unveils-haas-2ca-rocket-las-cruces/99772172/

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Hmmm. I'll believe SSTO when I see it.

 

[jedidia]

That rocket doesn't exactly look like what's on the first page of this thread?

 

[boogabooga]

There was a separate thread for ARCA HAAS rocket.

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=38200

Interesting to focus on SSTO rather than reuse.