Welcome to the SCALE (X Prize) Gauchito Gallery on TRF.
This gallery showcases the (X Prize) Gauchito and those rockets derived from it. Particularly appropriate in this thread are the following:
Estes: Gauchito: #0809
as well as any upscales, downscales, clones, kitbashes or other derivative works. Even Goonies qualify!
Argentinan manned spacecraft. Study 2004. X-Prize suborbital ballistic spacecraft concept of Pablo De Leon of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Reached the stage of engineering tests by 2003.
Gauchito (Little Cowboy) was a concept of Pablo De Leon and Associates of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The vehicle would use a hybrid rocket powered vertical takeoff and parachute descent on water landing. Pablo de Leon was an experienced aerospace engineer, co-founder and president of the Argentine Association for Space Technology (AATE), and a graduate of the International Space University. The Gauchito was a clustered design made up of four hybrid engines producing a maximum acceleration of 3.5 G. The engines would burn until the vehicle reached an altitude of 34 km, followed by a coast to 120 km. After five minutes of weightlessness, the pilot was to orient the thermal shield for re-entry. The vehicle was recovered via parachute. De Leon flew a subscale test capsule to 30 km and conducted one-third scale rocket test firings. Testing of flight suits and other critical systems were conducted in May 2003 and a half-scale flight test of the Gauchito vehicle was conducted in June 2003.
