GRADICOM (GRAndes DImensiones COMpuestos) are a series of

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

rockets with, according to

CITEDEF The Institute of Scientific and Technical Research for the Defense (, also known for its acronym CITEDEF), is an Argentine federal agency in charge of research and development in various scientific fields. It is also in charge of homologation of ...

, the ultimate goal of developing a vector that can be used for military purposes as a

missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...

(with a guidance and control system) or as a

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...

(in free trajectory) for civilian purposes.

Gradicom I

The GRADICOM I (PCX-900) was launched on December 17, 2009, from Serrezuela, Córdoba province, in order to certify the GRADICOM engine in flight. It was developed by the Center for Scientific and Technological Research for Defense (CITEDEF), under the direction of Vice Commodore Carlos Vásquez. The engine used

solid fuel Solid fuel refers to various forms of solid material that can be burnt to release energy, providing heat and light through the process of combustion. Solid fuels can be contrasted with liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Common examples of solid fu ...

(

HTPB Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) is an oligomer of butadiene terminated at each end with a hydroxyl functional group. It reacts with isocyanates to form polyurethane polymers. HTPB is a translucent liquid with a color similar to wax paper ...

, ammonium perchlorate, aluminum and other compounds), and had a diameter of 32 cm and a length of 2.5 m. The rocket had a total mass of 500 kg and a length of 4.45 m.

Gradicom II

GRADICOM II (PCX2) was launched on July 11, 2011, from

CELPA (El Chamical) CELPA (El Chamical) ''(Centro de Experimentación y Lanzamiento de Proyectiles Autopropulsados)'' was a rocket launch site in Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It c ...

, Argentine province of La Rioja. Developed by CITEDEF, GRADICOM II was a

two-stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...

vector based on the development of the GRADICOM I. The project involved 70 experts for a year and had a cost of 4 million pesos. The rocket weighed 933 kg and measured 7.7 meters.

Gradicom III

GRADICOM III was planned to be launched in 2015.

References

{{Argentina space program Sounding rockets of Argentina Space programme of Argentina Solid-fuel rockets