2024-03-26 02:40:03
A. Calvo | Lion
For just over a year now, the University of León has had its own rocketry group, an association of students that has set out to go so far with their prototypes that they even have among their objectives to cross the Kármán line and thus reach space. abroad. Although the number of students fluctuates, the core of the group remains stable and they have already managed to develop their León 0.1 rocket and are finalizing León 1 to then make the leap to León 2. The work spirit of this group is based on learning , enjoy and, above all, apply and put into practice everything that these future engineers learn in their degrees, although there are also students from other careers such as Marketing.
But the León 0.1 is now ready and this group of students led by Pedro De Dueñas has already intensified its conversations with the Ministry of Defense to be able to use the El Teleno Shooting Range for the launch of its first rocket. “It is a very large area and gives us more security,” explains De Dueñas, adding that the flight ceiling of this first prototype could be 500 meters, so they need “an area with controlled airspace,” as well as It could be the León Military Aerodrome itself or the Pajares de los Oteros Aerodrome, but defend the security that the Maragato shooting range gives them and add that the Technical Defense Committee in Madrid has already given the go-ahead for its launch.
The entire rocket has been designed in León, in the Cybernetics Research Module, known as the MIC building of the University of León, where this group has its headquarters. The key is in the engine and in the fact that the model is completely reusable, as explained by De Dueñas, who for the moment will launch their first prototype with a solid fuel engine that has a sugar base, since 35% of its composition is dextrose, so it will leave behind a sweetish smell in the El Teleno field at the time of ignition.
They will have to add potassium nitrate to the dextrose, so their model has been designed based on this premise, which requires robustness to be able to withstand the energy explosion that the rocket will launch in 1.5 seconds. The first step will be that once it reaches its maximum speed, a parachute opens and it can return to earth. Getting it to land again is a medium-term objective.
The León 0.1 is 60 centimeters high and will serve to guide these young people on how they should continue with their León 1. Of this second model, “the main part is already developed, we need the documentation to be able to send it to Madrid and be able to launch it after the summer », explains the young engineering student, adding that they continue to advance and that, in parallel, they are already beginning to develop the León 2. The final objective with this latest model is, as they themselves indicate on their website, «to put everything into practice. what we learned and achieve our objectives; We highlight the power and efficiency. This prototype incorporates an engine designed and built by us, electronics designed and manufactured by us and has dimensions of 350 centimeters high and 100 millimeters in diameter,” to which they add that the apogee would be at 10,000 meters, thus exceeding the range that they hope to achieve with their León 1, which would be between 500 and 5,000 meters.
“The next step will be to test solid fuel engines that we develop ourselves,” explains De Dueñas, to emphasize that he is studying possibilities, “we have a design on paper and we are looking for materials,” he adds, but not without specifying that it is a matter ” complex” that could take more than a year of work.
The Rocketry group has the support of the School of Engineering and the University of León. At the MIC they have access to cutting-edge equipment, such as additive manufacturing machines, for example, for the rocket casing, as well as other means to develop their prototypes to which they also want to apply that reusable value.
In Spain there are currently eleven rocketry groups spread across different universities that have recently come together in what is known as Surtam (Spanish University Rocketry Teams Annual Meeting), the annual meeting in which, as Pedro De Dueñas explains, they put “to share ideas, solutions are faced and we collaborate”, and thus see what other groups are working on. In addition, important companies in the sector also attend the event in which each group has a stand where they present their projects. Round tables, meetings and other types of events, both between students and companies, complete this forum in which the University of León represents the entire Spanish northwest and with groups highly concentrated in Madrid and Catalan universities. This year’s event was held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya with a focus very focused on biometrics.
Choral photo of the groups at the national level. dl
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