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 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace and Asteroid Mining |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | , Romania |
Key people | Dumitru Popescu |
| Website | arcaspace |
Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association (Romanian: Asociația Română pentru Cosmonautică și Aeronautică), also known as ARCAspace, is an aerospace company based in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania.[1] It builds rockets, high-altitude balloons, and unmanned aerial vehicles. It was founded in 1999 as a non-governmental organization in Romania by the Romanian engineer and entrepreneur Dumitru Popescu and other rocket and aeronautics enthusiasts. Since then, ARCA has launched two stratospheric rockets and four large-scale stratospheric balloons including a cluster balloon. It was awarded two governmental contracts with the Romanian government and one contract with the European Space Agency. ARCASpace is currently developing several rocket systems, both orbital and suborbital, under the EcoRocket program. These vehicles include the CER rocket systems, the EcoRocket Demonstrator, Nano, 5 & Heavy, and the A1 strategic anti-ballistic interceptor. ARCA has yet to launch a vehicle above the Karman line, or sent a payload to orbit, with the majority of their projects having been abandoned due to various reasons, often including financial or regulatory constraints.