ARCA has successfully completed the validation test flight in the ExoMars Program High Altitude Drop Test (HADT), carried out in cooperation with the European Space Agency.

The launch took place from the Black Sea coast and comprised three pressurized containers containing the avionics equipment that will be necessary to test the ExoMars spacecraft parachute during the incoming future flights that will be performed by ARCA.

The objectives were flight testing the avionics and communication systems, demonstrating the containers sealing after sea landing and the capability to identify and recover the equipment from the sea surface.

The pressurized containers, carried by the cluster balloon, were launched at 7:15 AM and the ascension took 90 minutes to an altitude of 24,4 km. At this altitude the containers were released under a dedicated recovery parachute and landed on the sea, twenty minutes later. The containers and the recovery parachute were recovered by the Navy, at a distance of 92 km from the launch point.

"The objectives of this mission were carried out successfully and we have great confidence that the next two flights in the ExoMars HADT Program will have the same result. ARCA's cooperation with the European Space Agency, Air Force and Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration (ROMATSA) for this flight was excellent.", said Dumitru Popescu, ARCA President.

The next ARCA missions from the ExoMars program will consist in testing the parachutes that will allow safe landing of the ExoMars spacecraft on the Mars planet surface, in 2016. For this purpose, two Drop Test Vehicles (DTV), having a weight of over half a ton each, will be launched.

At the altitude of around 30 km, these will detach from the carrier balloons and will descend until they will reach the speed of Mach 0,7. At this transonic speed the DTV will deploy the parachutes in order to test them in simulated atmospheric conditions of the planet Mars. The flight parameters will be transmitted from the DTV to the ARCA's Flight Command and Control Center.