The Romanian Cosmonautics and Aeronautics Association (ARCA) on Wednesday announced a program it has been developing in secrecy for the past year, to create the first Romanian supersonic, high-altitude airplane, which will launch the Haas II rocket for the Google Lunar X Prize.On October 1, ARCA launched the first Romanian space rocket, Helen 2, off the Black Sea coast – the first step towards claiming the Google Lunar X Prize competition, which calls for privately-funded teams to put a robot on the surface of the Moon.

The E-111 airplane developed by ARCA during the past year will extend the Association’s capacity to launch the Haas II rocket, as well as improve space tourism technologies. The plane was designed to replace the balloons used by ARCA to transport its rockets above the Earth’s atmosphere. While the balloons were a quick and inexpensive solution, they have proven their limits and were the main cause for two delays in the launch of the Helen rocket according to reports by Mediafax.