Project Execution
PABLO DE LEON & ASSOCIATES GAUCHITO RESUPPLY VEHICLE
Pablo de Leon and Associates (Pablo de Leon y Asociados) is an Argentine-based team formed to design, build and operate a suborbital space transportation system. Our team was created to compete for the Ansari X Prize and was accepted by the X Prize Foundation on February 10, 1997. Our team is formed by Argentine specialists in several fields, including propulsion, mechanical design, aerodynamics, thermal systems, cryogenics, computer science, etc.
Pablo de Leon, Team Leader, is an Argentine aerospace engineer with wide experience in space systems design, project management and development of space vehicles and components.
More than 42 scientists, engineers, technicians and volunteers have worked on this program for years in order to one day achieve the first suborbital manned flight in Latin America. Our team, conscientious of the past, believes it is necessary to learn from those who preceded us, and reach a level of technological development comparable with the times. If Argentina wants to be once more an industrialized nation, we need to invest heavily in science and technology. That is why we are working in this project, because we believe it is valuable and it will help to inspire a new generation of young Argentines and Latin Americans.
The VESA “Gauchito” is a conventional style rocket launch vehicle, using 4 hybrid rocket engines in cluster configuration. The length of the “Gauchito” is 12 meters without the escape tower, with a diameter of 2.20 meters in the main body, and 6.60 meters including the aerodynamic fins. The weight of the rocket is 8,000 kilograms while the empty weight is 2,400 kilograms. The capsule can accommodate 1 crewmember with a maximum weight of 300 kilograms of cargo. The capsule maintains a controlled atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen and the crew will use full pressure suits with 100%.oxygen
The propulsion system of the “Gauchito” was designed by Prof. Jorge Lassig. Its combines safety, economy, and reusability. The propellant grain, shaped as a cylinder and using several channels with geometrical shapes is placed in the combustion chamber. The “Gauchito” uses 4 hybrid rocket engines which burns Polyester Resin as propellant, and liquid oxygen (LOX) as oxidizer for 60 seconds. The throttle can be regulated and the engines are re-startable. The propulsion system has redundant safety devices and can be stopped in case of malfunction. The total thrust is 250,000 newtons (52,910 lb). Each engine uses 380 kilograms of polyester resin and 1,080 kilograms of LOX. This requires a volume of 4 m3 for the 4 rocket engines. The LOX is feed by high pressure nitrogen coming from an additional tank located at the top of the rocket body. The total length of the rocket body is almost 8 meters, with a 2 meters diameter. The pressurized nitrogen tank is ½ meter diameter and the spherical LOX tank is 2 meters diameter. The longitude of each motor tube is 3,3 meters with a diameter of .60 meter.