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Acta Astronautica

Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898

0094-57

doi:10.1

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journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro

Miguel Sanchez Pena (1925–2009) organizer of the space activitiesin Argentina$

Pablo de Leon n, Miguel Alejandro Sanchez Pena Jr.

Argentine Association for Space Technology, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Instituto Nacional Newberiano, Chubut, Argentina

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 10 February 2011

Received in revised form

5 April 2011

Accepted 6 April 2011Available online 20 May 2011

Keywords:

Argentina

CNIE

Space

Latin America

IIAE

Argentine Air Force

65/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. A

016/j.actaastro.2011.04.005

s paper was presented during the 61st IAC in

esponding author.

ail address: deleon@aate.org (P. de Leon).

a b s t r a c t

One of the most important and active pioneers of the space activities in Argentina was

Miguel Sanchez Pena, an aeronautical engineer and an officer of the Argentine Air Force.

Sanchez Pena was the organizer of Argentina’s governmental space program in the 1970s

and part of the 80s, and contributed immeasurably to the Nation’s sounding rocket program.

Born in Mendoza, Argentina in 1925, Sanchez Pena attended the Military Aviation School

(Escuela de Aviacion Militar) in Cordoba, and later the Air Force Engineering School.

Graduated as an engineer in 1959 he was sent to the University of Michigan in the United

States to complete his graduate studies earning a Masters of Science degree in Aerospace

Engineering. There he had the opportunity to study with several future NASA astronauts

such as Theodore Freeman, Edward White and James McDivitt. After his return to Argentina

in 1961 he was put in charge of the Space Development Group (Grupo de Desarrollos

Espaciales) of the Air Force in Cordoba. While with the Air Force he managed the

development of a family of various sounding rockets for high altitude research. Sanchez

Pena was also in charge of the first Argentine rockets launched from Antarctica in 1965, as

well as the first tests on an Argentine-fabricated rocket (Orion) from Wallops Island in the

United States, in 1966. The Orion was the first operational sounding rocket constructed in

South America. In the middle of the 1970s Miguel Sanchez Pena was named president of the

CNIE (National Space Research Commission). Starting with just a modest one-desk office at

the Argentine Air Force headquarters, in only a few years he turned CNIE into a multi-center

organization with several hundred employees, three operational launch centers across the

country and a family of research rockets open to the international scientific community. He

was also actively representing Argentina in many IAF congresses, and was a member of the

International Academy of Astronautics. After leaving CNIE he became president of the

Asociacion Argentina de Ciencias Espaciales (AACE), an IAF Member organization which was

the continuation of the space organization created by Teofilo Tabanera in 1951. Miguel

Sanchez Pena was, without doubt, the most active president of CNIE and thanks to his vision,

hard work and the international trust he created, his efforts made it possible for Argentina to

participate in many cooperative space experiments with partners like France, Germany, Peru,

the United Kingdom and the United States.

& 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ll rights reserved.

Prague.

1. Beginnings

Miguel Sanchez Pena was born on 5th April 1925 at theRivadavia Department in the Province of Mendoza, Argentina.While in high school he began as an apprentice under hisfather, a building contractor, but his vocation took a differentpath. He entered into the Military Aviation School in Cordoba

Fig. 1. Sanchez Pena carrying Argentina’s flag during a parade at the Air

Force Academy.

P. de Leon, M.A. Sanchez Pena Jr. / Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898 893

to become an Argentine Air Force officer, where he graduatedat the top of his class with the commission of Sub-Lieutenant.

He continued his studies at the Air Force AeronauticalEngineering School, also in Cordoba, and graduated in1950 as an aeronautical engineer, receiving the Aero-technical Institute Award for the highest grade of hispromotion Fig. 1.

His first assignment was a modest one, at the IV AirBrigade in Mendoza, ‘‘El Plumerillo’’, where he undertookthe supervision of maintenance tasks as part of theTechnical Team IV as engineer at the airplane service/repair section. He also was an instructor of Algebra andThermodynamics in the Technical School of Apprentices,and also taught in the laboratory of materials at the localSchool of Technical Education. It was during those days,when some of the non-commissioned officers and otherfriends, who also liked hiking, had formed the ‘‘ArgentineWings Brigade’’.

Given his hiking background during his times as astudent, Sanchez Pena, now a First Lieutenant, was offeredan opportunity to take part in the ‘‘First Expedition ofAeronautical Personnel to the Aconcagua,’’ in 1955becoming part of this expedition which climbed thehighest mountain in the Americas (6998 m). Once there,the first radio transmission was conducted from its peak.

A few years later Sanchez Pena received a scholarshipfrom the Argentine Air Force to pursue a Masters ofScience degree in Aerospace Engineering at the Universityof Michigan, USA, where he met with some of the futureastronauts of the Gemini and Apollo Projects such asEdward White, James McDivitt and Theodore Freeman.Sanchez Pena earned his masters degree in 1960.

Fig. 2. Sanchez Pena with Wernher Von Braun during his visit to Argentina

in 1963.

2. First space assignments

Upon returning to Argentina in 1961, he attendedcourses at the Air Force Command and Staff School. Hewas later assigned to the Area of Material in Cordoba, inwhich he was designated Chief of the Space DevelopmentTeam in the Institute of Aeronautical and Space Research(Instituto de Investigaciones Aeronauticas y Espaciales,IIAE), where during the 1960s there was an important

program in the development of indigenous soundingrockets.

Later, he was chief and project director at the Depart-ment of Design and Production, where he took charge ofthe development of the Gamma Centaur, Orion, Canopus,Rigel, Castor, DIM, CLAG (hail mitigation rocket with a5 kg chemical load at 10 km altitude) rockets, amongothers.

Afterwards he became the vice director at this insti-tute. Among his duties were: supervisor of Argentineand foreign (US and French) rockets launches and largestratospheric balloons at the bases of Chamical (La Riojaprovince), Matienzo, Marambio (Antarctica) and MarChiquita (Buenos Aires).

In November 1962, in a great saline zone located in LaRioja province, the Self-Propelled Rockets Launching Cen-ter, CELPA (Centro de Lanzamiento de Proyectiles Auto-Propulsados) was created, as the French rocket ‘‘Centaure’’built for CNES, took off to conduct high altitude atmo-spheric research into the South-Atlantic Anomaly.

These cooperation projects with France involvedimportant technology transfer on rocket development,logistics, related equipment and instrumentation andtransfer of personnel between both countries, and itgreatly contributed to the experience and operationalability of the Argentine rocket groups. Many of theseArgentine–French cooperative experiences were in con-ducting simultaneous tests on bases located abroad, suchas Wallops Islands (US), Fort Churchill (Canada), Hamm-guir (North of Africa), Tumba (India) and Woomera(Australia). Some US rockets were also launched fromCELPA carrying payloads designed and fabricated inArgentina by IIAE with the collaboration of universitiessuch as the National University of Tucuman Fig. 2.

In 1963, as a coordinating organization and externalaffairs liaison, the National Commission of Space Research(Comision Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales, CNIE), acivilian entity created in 1960, asked IIAE to design anddevelop two sounding rockets: one to put 5 kg payload to80 km altitude; and the other to put 10 kg payload to analtitude of 100 km. These requirements were to be

Fig. 3. Sanchez Pena with colleagues at Wallops Island after the successful

recovery of the Orion II nosecone.

P. de Leon, M.A. Sanchez Pena Jr. / Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898894

eventually achieved, and proved to be the genesis of anational sounding rocket program that was to produce agrowing family of research rockets. Argentina also beganthe development of a composite propellant of ammoniumperchlorate and a plastic (PVC) plastisol. Other formula-tions would later follow and higher levels of quality insolid propellant were be achieved.

On 25 May 1963 during ‘‘Operacion Nube de Sodio’’(Sodium Cloud) a French-built sounding rocket ‘‘Centaure35’’was launched, reaching an altitude of 189 km. Itspurpose was to measure wind speeds and turbulences ofthe high atmosphere. The investigation was supervised bythe IIAE with Sanchez Pena as launch director.

In September 1963, scientists from IIAE originated theidea of conducting a rocket launch in the Antarctica. TheArgentine Air Force often flew over and landed in Antarcticaand the Antarctic Base Lieutenant Benjamın Matienzo had asmall runway where aircraft could safely take off and land,such as the mono-engine Beaver (skis equipped); as well aslarger Douglas C-47, equipped with wheeling skis.

In order to access weather-prepared equipment for theAntarctic environment a test took place on 27 July 1964 inwhich a trial Gamma-Centauro rocket was launched inthe Andean zone of Puente del Inca, Mendoza. The rocketcarried a telemetric payload to 35,000 m altitude tomeasure temperatures in the high atmosphere. A portablelaunch and removable ramp using a thermal protectivecover allowed work to be conducted during the firing, andkeeping the rocket grain under tolerable conditions, whilethe outside temperature was minus 12 1C.

Finally, on 6 and 8 February 1965, a personnel team inwhich Miguel Sanchez Pena acted as launch director,proceeded to launch Argentine-built Gamma-Centaurorockets from Antarctica, at the same time when an equalnumber or rockets were launched in Chamical. As part ofthe ‘‘International Year of the Quiet Sun’’, Argentinabecame the third nation to conduct rocket launches inAntarctica, after the USA and the Soviet Union. TheArgentine rockets reached 44 km of altitude with a pay-load of 5 kg of X-ray detection instruments and a tele-metry transmission system. Sounding balloons were alsoreleased up to 24 km altitude with the same instruments.As a result of these launches it was determined thatelectromagnetic radiation at 40 km altitude was fivetimes greater than the levels detected on the surface.

In Argentina the decade of the 1960s was very active ininternational cooperation on space projects. After a newagreement with the United States, Argentine personnelwere trained at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center fora rocket launch campaign in CELPA using several Nike-Cajun, Nike-Apache, Arcas, Hasp and the French ‘‘Belier-Centaure’’.

The Brazilian Air Force, which at the time was planningthe construction of their launch base on ‘‘Barrera doInferno’’, took part in many rocket launches in CELPA,and their officers and engineers took courses at the IIAE.Among them was an young engineer, Luis Gylvan MeiraFilho, who later became the first president of the BrazilianSpace Agency. A delegation of officers from the PeruvianAir Force (FAP), also attended training courses on theore-tical and practical rocketry at the IIAE; and in 1966,

Sanchez Pena along with Commodore Juan Jose Tassowas sent to Peru to assist the Peruvian Air Force authoritiesto help them create their space commission, CONIDA(Comision Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo Aeroespa-cial) and the rocket launch base at Punta Lobos.

On 10 November 1966, ‘‘Operation Orion-Eclipse’’ wasconducted by the US and France in the region of Tartagal,Salta, Argentina, during a total solar eclipse. The mainobjective of this experience was to study the flow ofneutrons with three Orion II rockets. The French used 2Titus, and the USA, several Arcas rockets.

During the development of the Orion II rocket, whosemain purpose was to reach more than 100 km altitudewith a 20 kg payload, it was required to certify itsaltitude, and since the measuring equipment was notavailable in 1966 in Argentina, under an agreement withNASA, two Orion II rockets were launched from WallopsIsland, Virginia, in November that year. Miguel SanchezPena was in charge of the operation, and one of thepayloads was recovered by a NASA helicopter in mid-airFig. 3.

The year 1967 would be the starting point for a seriesof biological experiments undertaken by the NationalInstitute of Aeronautical and Space Medicine (InstitutoNacional de Medicina Aeronautica y Espacial, INMAE),with the launch of capsules carrying laboratory mice. Forthe so called ‘‘Bio I’’ experiment, a group of mice wereselected: the ‘‘Astronaut’’ named Belisario was the firstanimal to be carried in one of these launches fromArgentina. While the rocket had the intention of justtesting the capsule, harness and telemetry transmission,it was the beginning of a more complex investigation afew years later.

A great number of sounding rocket operations wasperformed during 1967–1968, some of which studiedcosmic rays, were conducted with Argentine as well asinternational rockets. In December, a newly designedtwo-stage ‘‘Rigel’’ rocket would reach a height of 300 kmwith a 29 kg payload in its first flight attempt.

In 1969, Sanchez Pena attended an intensive course onremote sensing at the University of Michigan. He alsoparticipated in the ‘‘Scientific Meetings for Hail Suppres-sion’’, along with scientists from several nations. In that

Fig. 4. Preparations of the two-stage Castor rocket from the Marambio

Base in Antarctica.

P. de Leon, M.A. Sanchez Pena Jr. / Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898 895

year he was named the vice president of the Sub Com-mittee of Direct Action on Remote Sensing during theInternational Astronautical Federation Congress (IAC).

That was a very active year for Argentina in spaceprojects, most probably influenced by the first Apollolunar landing. Two new studies with biological payloads(mice) on board Orion II rockets were conducted in Mayand August. One of them carried a capsule up to analtitude of 20 km, which was recovered 45 min laterabout 17 km away from launch site. Tests with theArgentine-made rockets ‘‘Rigel’’ and the newly designed‘‘Canopus’’ were also conducted. Also the ‘‘Planta Piloto dePropulsantes’’ (Pilot Propellant Plant) was created inCordoba to start producing composite propellants forrockets, reducing the dependence on rocket solid fuel.

Argentina’s advances in rocketry was put to the test on 22December 1969, with the experiment ‘‘Proyecto Navidad’’(Project Christmas), whose main objective was to test thenewly developed ‘‘Castor’’ rocket that reached 500 km with75 kg of payload.

That same year, the 20th International AstronauticalCongress (IAC) took place in Mar del Plata, province ofBuenos Aires. Many attendants from all over the worldtraveled to this event, which was especially importantsince it was the year of the Apollo XI mission.

Finally at the end of a very fruitful year for space activities,on 23 December, from CELPA a Canopus II rocket carrying theBio II capsule was launched taking with it a small 1.5 kgmonkey named ‘‘Juan’’. The flight lasted 8 min and thecapsule was recovered by a helicopter, along with the animal,which was in perfect health.

In 1970, a new rocket launch center located on thesouth-Atlantic Coast, near a city called Mar Chiquita wasinaugurated. The new center, called CELPA Atlantico wasfirst used to launch a French-made Dragon rocket, underthe direction of Sanchez Pena as launch director.

The main objective of this mission was to study theenergy spectrum and direction of the terrestrial magneticfield. The Dragon 70 successfully reached an altitude of430 km.

These experiments were designed by the CosmicRadiation Laboratory from the National University ofTucuman. It is worth mentioning that the Mar ChiquitaFacility on the Atlantic Ocean was originally created toenable orbital launches. The United Nations sent anexpert commission and declared it as an ‘‘InternationalLaunch Base’’, becoming the second base of such acategory in the world.

By 1972 Sanchez Pena started the coordination of asymposium on space technology in the town of Ascochinga,Cordoba. This meeting gathered Air Force institutions andUniversities, as well as the centers of research and experi-mentation from across the country, and some other Latin-American nations. During these encounters, the idea ofdesigning and building an Argentine artificial satellite beganto take shape. On the 22 and the 28 of March 1973 two‘‘Skylark’’ rockets were launched (under an agreement withGreat Britain) reaching an altitude of 240 km. Photography inthe visible and infrared spectrum were taken for the study ofnatural and agricultural resources, covering an hexagon of600 km in diameter.

In the same year, on 18 and 19 November, a coopera-tive project of the CNIE, the IIAE and the Max PlankInstitute of the Federal Republic of Germany, named‘‘Operation EGANI’’ (Experiencia Germano–Argentina deNubes Ionizadas) took place. From CELPA two ‘‘Rigel’’rockets were launched and ionized clouds were injectedto measure the magnetic field at an altitude of 260 km. Onthe 22nd, a ‘‘Castor’’ rocket was launched reaching260 km altitude as well.

During this year, the Air Force reinforced its role in thenational space commission, CNIE which at the time wasno longer a civilian entity but a dependence of theAir Force.

On 3 and 30 October 1975, a new ‘‘Operation EGANI’’took place with the launch of two ‘‘Castor’’ rockets at theAntarctic base Marambio. Personnel and equipmenttraveled from Cordoba aboard a Hercules C-130 aircraft.This included the vehicles, launching ramp, trackingradars and telemetry equipment. Two observation pointswere mounted on the continent and two NASA aircraftalso took part in the mission, flying over New York tostudy the ionized clouds injected in Antarctica. The mainobjective of this experience was to study the electromag-netic fields in high altitude, temperature and the profile ofelectrons.

The NASA aircraft were able to film the passing cloudwith TV cameras and the crew was able to observe itdirectly as it passed by Manhattan Island. It was a verysuccessful project and it attracted worldwide attentiontowards the Argentine space project Fig. 4.

3. Commanding the national space efforts

In 1976 the Argentine Armed Forces took power fromthe constitutionally elected president, and military offi-cers occupied most of the executive positions in

Fig. 5. A Castor rocket being prepared by Argentine personnel at the

Punta Lobos base in Peru.

P. de Leon, M.A. Sanchez Pena Jr. / Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898896

government. Miguel Sanchez Pena was named as Presi-dent of CNIE, which he led with his rank of Brigadier until1984. Those were highly intense 9 years of work and hislast position in the Air Force.

Sanchez Pena was an incredible capable manager forCNIE. He started with a small desk and two employees atthe Air Force Headquarters and eventually turned theorganization into a dynamic establishment with morethan seven hundred employees working at various spacecenters scattered all across the country. The outstandingenterprise of Sanchez Pena as president of the CNIE,included the foundation of the Space Center San Miguelin 1977 in Buenos Aires. This center housed the SpaceDevelopment Team, the Non-Conventional Energy Pro-gram (solar and wind power), Cosmic Physics and thecenter for educational and training programs.

Other centers were created, such as the Remote Sen-sing Center, with its reception station LANDSAT in MarChiquita, the Data Processing Center in Vicente Lopez,Buenos Aires, the launching base of sounding rockets andstratospheric balloons in the Marambio Base, Antarctica.Sanchez Pena also achieved the creation of a MastersDegree course in Space Technology in an agreementbetween the National Technological University and theSpace Center of San Miguel, where the courses would belectured.

He also contributed, along with the National Council ofScience and Technology, to the creation of the NationalInstitute of Technological Transfer, as well as to thecreation of the Research Institute of Applied Research inSpace Sciences (hail mitigation and experimentation withlarge balloons of up to 800 kg payload and 40 km altitude)in the province of Mendoza.

As the head of CNIE, Sanchez Pena made possible the‘‘Programa Nacional de Lucha Antigranizo’’ (National Programof Hail Mitigation) through the construction and use ofrockets, chemical loads and launchers, as well as radar anda communication network that produced annual hail mitiga-tion campaigns between 1978 and 1983. These campaignswere undertaken to protect the local wine industry.

International cooperation during his administration isremembered by its first teleconference on Space Applica-tions in Argentina through the ATS-6 satellite. This eventinvolved CNIE and NASA speakers, and was held inNovember 1976. Thanks to the dynamic action of SanchezPena, fourteen cooperation meetings were carried outwith several space agencies and research organizationssuch as NASA, the French National Council of SpaceStudies, as well as entities from Germany, Italy, Braziland Chile, among others.

In 1981 the CNIE designed an important research studytitled ‘‘The Architecture of a Domestic Satellite System’’. Theproject could not be finished due to lack of funding but itcontributed to Argentina being able to define the adequatepoints in the geostationary orbit that need to be assigned asrequest allocations to the International Union of Telecommu-nications. That same year, CNIE was able to put into opera-tion a contracted satellite system that allowed communic-ation with the Antarctic bases.

Sanchez Pena also contributed greatly to the use of spaceremote sensing; in early 1976, he planned and conducted the

creation of the Remote Sensing Center and the installation ofa LANDSAT receiver and processing equipment at the launch-ing base of CELPA Atlantico in Mar Chiquita.

During his administration, post-graduate courses onremote sensing of up to a year of duration were organized.Approximately 1000 Argentines and other Latin-Americancolleagues were able to complete courses in this topic.

During 1977–78, Argentina’s Armed Forces turned itsfocus to a possible border conflict with Chile, and somespace projects were stopped and the personnel started towork on military applications. Sanchez Pena was againstthe military use of the space centers he created, since theinstitution where he was the president, the CNIE, wascreated for peaceful purposes only, and was not intend tobe involved in defense projects. During those years also,and under an agreement with companies at the FederalRepublic of Germany, Argentina’s Air Force started theCondor missile project. At that time, the CNIE was notinvolved in its development.

In August 1978, a Special Agreement on the Collabora-tion of the Peaceful Use of Space (Acuerdo Especial deColaboracion en la Utilizacion Pacıfica del Espacio) wassigned between Argentina and Peru, in Lima. This wasgoing to be the first case of technology transfer of rockethardware expertise developed by Argentina. Followingthis commitment on 21 and 22 March 1979, MiguelSanchez Pena, became the general director of the scien-tific experience ‘‘Castor-Peru’’, which had as a scenario thePunta Lobos base, located close to Lima, Peru. Its purposewas to study the origin, development and behavior of thetype F ionospheric irregularities that affect the propaga-tion of electromagnetic wavelengths. Two Castor rocketswere launched during that international operation Fig. 5.

Sanchez Pena oversaw the transfer of several compo-sites propellant grain systems used in the Orion rocket, aswell as some manufacturing and launch equipment. Thisequipment, after many years of storage at CONIDA fromthen on was used as a stepping stone of the currentPeruvian rocket development.

In the academic field, the dynamic work of Sanchez Penais worthily remembered: among some facts, his presidency

P. de Leon, M.A. Sanchez Pena Jr. / Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898 897

of the AACE- Asociacion Argentina de Ciencias Espaciales(Argentine Association of Space Sciences), which was a non-governmental entity that had its origin in the ArgentineanInterplanetary Society, funded in 1949 by Teofilo Tabanera,pioneer of space activities in Argentina.

Sanchez Pena was a member of the American RocketSociety and the American Institute of Aeronautics andAstronautics. He was also a member of the InternationalAcademic of Astronautics. In 1980, the Secretary ofCulture awarded him with the ‘‘Premio Dr. FedericoLeloir’’ for his contributions in science and education. Healso took part, as a counseling member of the ‘‘Confer-encia Espacial de las Americas’’ (Americas Space Confer-ence) in San Jose de Costa Rica.

In the educational field, he was an associate professor atthe Universidad Nacional de Lujan, Argentina. He was also aguest lecturer at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, ofthe Academia Pontifica de Ciencias, Chile, and UniversidadNacional de Buenos Aires, among others Fig. 6.

His efforts as Argentine Delegate in the InternationalAstronautical Federation during 1968–70; 1977; 1983–84;1989 and 1997 was outstanding. He was the President(1976–81) of the Argentinean Delegation for the UnitedNations in the Committee of Peaceful Use of Outer Space(COPUOS) and attended many meetings, international con-gresses and seminars worldwide.

On 10 December 1981, the last Argentine-made rocketfor scientific purposes, the ‘‘Tauro’’, was launched (8 mlong, 100 kg at 160 km altitude). It was built to carrytelemetry, an active altitude control system, high resolu-tion cameras for photographic survey and a recoverysystem. Along with this rocket, a two decade phase ofdevelopment and successful scientific and technologicalachievements in South America had ended.

On the design boards, the ‘‘200/300’’ project would beleft unfinished, consisting of a 200 kg payload, whosemain objective was to survey a 1 Million km2 area from a300 km altitude.

At the newly constructed experimental base of Falda delCarmen, Cordoba, the Argentine Air Force started thedevelopment of short range military rocket ‘‘Alacran’’ and

Fig. 6. Sanchez Pena, as president of CNIE, during the visit of astronaut

Buzz Aldrin in Buenos Aires.

intermediate ballistic missile ‘‘Condor II’’. In 1983, with thereturn of Argentina to democracy, Sanchez Pena resignedhis post as the CNIE President and retired from the Air Force,leaving a long list of outstanding space accomplishments. Itis true that he directed the CNIE in a time when the ArmedForces had practically limitless resources, and did not had toconsult with the Argentine people to use them, but withoutquestion he was the talented in the creation of a nationalspace program and the skilled in the administration of thathistoric effort. Probably due to his education overseas, hewas very interested in international cooperation, and wellrespected by his colleagues in other countries. He was alsoconscious that CNIE was an instrument of peace, and herefused as much as he could, considering he was an Air forceofficer, in military applications of the developments madeby his organization.

After his retirement from the Air Force, Sanchez Pena wasthe co-founder and member of the board of PARACOM-SAT, acompany that had an active participation in the establish-ment of the Argentina Domestic Satellite System ‘‘SistemaSatelital Domestico de Argentina’’ (Argentina Domestic Satel-lite System) that operated between 1993 and 1997. Duringthe years 1994–95 he was a consultant for the NAHUELSATproject for the construction of the ground station for thedomestic and regional satellite system Fig. 7.

His last contribution to Aeronautics and Space was,nevertheless, very important. He was designed Presidentof the ‘‘Instituto Nacional Newberiano’’ (NewberianoNational Institute) (1999–2005), an institute created topreserve and spread Argentine aerospace history.

Miguel Sanchez Pena accomplished his last mission at age83, on Sunday 22 March, 2009, leaving the remembrance ofhis work and clear example of study and work for futuregenerations. Those future generations will see further thanhe, but only because they will stand upon his shoulders.

Fig. 7. Miguel Sanchez Pena, a life dedicated to Argentina’s aerospace

development.

P. de Leon, M.A. Sanchez Pena Jr. / Acta Astronautica 69 (2011) 892–898898

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Prof.Salvador Roberto Martınez, the president of the InstitutoNacional Newberiano and Lic. Roberto Jorge Martınez, the

director of the Instituto Civil de Tecnologıa Espacial forsharing their memories, Lynn van Broock, ArgentineAssociation for Space Technology, for her editing and toGary L. Harris for his valuable comments.