Haas is a family of rocket space launchers developed by

ARCAspace Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association ( ro, Asociația Română pentru Cosmonautică și Aeronautică), also known as ARCAspace, is an aerospace company based in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania. It builds rockets, high-altitude balloons, a ...

for the

Google Lunar X Prize The Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0, was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be th ...

competition and for their national crewed space program. no rocket has been launched, the planned rocket types changed significantly over time. It was named after

Conrad Haas Conrad Haas (1509–1576) was an Austrian or Transylvanian Saxon military engineer. He was a pioneer of rocket propulsion. His designs include a three-stage rocket and a manned rocket. Haas was perhaps born in Dornbach (now part of Hernal ...

, a medieval rocket pioneer who lived and worked in what is now Romania, and was the first person to describe a multistage rocket in writing.

Haas

Haas was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

, which was developed by ARCA as part of the ELE programme. It was designed to be air-launched from a

high-altitude balloon High-altitude balloons are crewed or uncrewed balloons, usually filled with helium or hydrogen, that are released into the stratosphere, generally attaining between above sea level. In 2002, a balloon named BU60-1 reached a record altitude of . ...

, similar to the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Rockoon A rockoon (from ''rocket'' and ''balloon'') is a solid fuel sounding rocket that, rather than being immediately lit while on the ground, is first carried into the upper atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, then separated from the balloon and ign ...

experiments of the 1950s. Prior to the development of Haas, ARCA had already launched two Stabilo rockets from balloons. It is fueled by

hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound with the formula . In its pure form, it is a very pale blue liquid that is slightly more viscous than water. It is used as an oxidizer, bleaching agent, and antiseptic, usually as a dilute solution (3%� ...

and

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

. The Haas rocketARCA Space
Haas Orbital Rocket Launcher
fact sheet, Dec. 2, 2008 (accessed 22 Sept 2014) was to be a three-stage rocket intended to be capable of placing 400 kilograms of payload into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

. Its maiden flight was to carry the European Lunar Explorer spacecraft, ARCA's entry into the Google Lunar X-Prize, following a series of engine tests which began in 2009. It was abandoned when ARCA decided to stop using solar and helium balloons for their space program.

Haas 2

Haas 2 was an orbital two-stage launcher design intended to be carried under the fuselage of the

IAR 111 The IAR-111 Excelsior is a supersonic mothership project, designed by ARCA Space Corporation, intended to transport a rocket payload up to and for developing space tourism related technologies. The aircraft is to be constructed almost entirely f ...

supersonic plane. It was planned to be powered by the new

Executor An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used. Overview An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...

liquid-fueled rocket engine under development at ARCA. Its intended launch altitude was approximately . It was intended to place a payload into low Earth orbit.

Haas 2CA

Haas 2CA, previously Haas 2c, was a planned flight testing platform for the Executor engine. It was an intended

single-stage-to-orbit A single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body using only propellants and fluids and without expending tanks, engines, or other major hardware. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles ...

vehicle due to its lightweight fuel tanks and was originally planned for a 2018 launch.

2020 plans

ARCAspace changed the plans of future rockets over time. As of March 2020, the company plans to develop ground-launched

rockets which can optionally increase their payload with a booster stage (called ''Launch assist system'', LAS). It is planned to test two stages of a small orbital rocket (''LAS 25R'' and ''Haas mini'') in independent flights in 2020, before the two are combined for a first orbital flight in 2021. This two-stage rocket is planned to have a payload capacity of 40 kg to low Earth orbit. A larger first stage is expected for 2022, followed by a

rocket ''Haas 3'' in 2023, carrying up to 500 kg of payload. Combining both, ARCAspace expects to achieve a payload capacity of 3 tonnes in 2024. This sequence would repeat with even larger rocket stages, leading to a 60 tonne payload rocket in 2027.

References

External Pages

* * {{European launch systems Air launch to orbit ARCAspace