How can I eliminate the space between two lines on the title page? I have tried using the Vspace command, but it doesn't work

Question

\documentclass[12pt, twoside]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[English]{babel}
\usepackage[width=17cm,height=22cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage[square,numbers]{natbib}
\usepackage[nottoc,numbib]{tocbibind}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\setlength{\headheight}{20pt}
\linespread{1.1}
\fancyhead[E]{\thepage\hfill \textit{\nouppercase{\rightmark}}}
\fancyhead[O]{\textit{\nouppercase{\leftmark}}\hfill\thepage}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.5pt}
\cfoot{}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,mathtools}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric}
\newcommand{\bD}{\mathbb{D}}
\newcommand{\bR}{\mathbb{R}}
\newcommand{\bZ}{\mathbb{Z}}
\newcommand{\bC}{\mathbb{C}}
\newcommand{\bN}{\mathbb{N}}
\newcommand{\cH}{\mathcal{H}}
\newcommand{\cA}{\mathcal{A}}
\renewcommand{\phi}{\varphi}
\newcommand{\arctanh}{\operatorname{arctanh}}
\newcommand{\sinc}{\operatorname{sinc}}
\newcommand{\eqdef}{\coloneqq}
\newcommand{\eps}{\varepsilon}
\newcommand{\de}{\delta}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\newtheorem{thm}{Teorema}
\newtheorem{prop}[thm]{Proposición}
\newtheorem{lem}[thm]{Lema}
\newtheorem{conj}[thm]{Conjetura}
\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{defn}[thm]{Definición}
\newtheorem{cor}[thm]{Corolario}
\newtheorem{ex}[thm]{Ejemplo}



\usepackage{xcolor}
\newenvironment{egornote}{\color{blue}}{}

\title{ hjk}
\author{ \\
[1cm]{Directores de tesis:
}}
\date{July 2021}
\begin{document}


   \begin{titlepage}
   \hspace*{-0.5in}
        \thispagestyle{empty}
        \begin{minipage}[c][0.17\textheight][c]{0.25\textwidth}
            \begin{center}
                \includegraphics[width=4.0cm, height=4.0cm]{imagenes/xc.jpg}
            \end{center}
        \end{minipage}
        \begin{minipage}[c][0.195\textheight][t]{0.75\textwidth}
            \begin{center}
                \vspace{0.3cm}
                \Large{\textbf{\textcolor{black} { University }}}\\[0.1mm]
                \vspace{0.3cm}
                \rule[3mm]{140mm}{3pt}
                \vspace{-0.1cm}
                \hspace{13pt}\rule[3mm]{130mm}{2pt}
                \vspace{-0.5cm}
        \normalsize{\textbf{\fontsize{40}{50}{Master Thesis}}}\\[ .2in]%[0.5cm]
            \end{center}
        \end{minipage}
\hspace*{-0.1in}
        \begin{minipage}[c][0.81\textheight][t]{0.25\textwidth}
            \vspace*{5mm}
            \begin{center}
                \hskip2.0mm
                \rule[-1cm]{6pt}{15cm} 
                \vspace{5mm}
                \hskip2pt
                \rule[0cm]{3pt}{14cm}
                \hskip1mm
                \rule[2cm]{2pt}{12cm} \\
                \vspace{5mm}
                \includegraphics[width =3cm, height=3.5cm]{imagenes/vb.jpg}
            \end{center}
        \end{minipage}
        \begin{minipage}[c][0.81\textheight][t]{0.75\textwidth}
            \begin{center}
               % \vspace{1cm}
                %{\large\scshape Master Thesis }\\[.2in]

               % \vspace{1cm}            

               % \textsc{\LARGE 
%\hspace{1.5cm}E\hspace{1.5cm}S\hspace{1.5cm}I\hspace{1.5cm}S}\\[0.5cm]
               \Large{\textbf{\textcolor{black} {topic}}}\\[0.5cm]
                 \normalsize{\textbf Submitted by :}\\[0.5cm]
                 \normalsize{\textbf {}}\\[0.5cm]
                 \normalsize{\textbf {Enroll\# : }}\\[0.5cm]          

                \vspace{0.3cm}

                \large{\emph Supervisors:\\[0.3cm] }\large{\textbf {Prof \\[0.2cm]}}

            \large{\textbf {Prof}}\\[.2in]

                \vspace{0.3cm}
                \begin{center}
                %\vspace{0.5cm}
                \normalsize{\textbf Thesis submitted }\\[.2in]
                \vspace{0.3cm}      
                 \end{center}
                \begin{center}
                %\vspace{0.5cm}
                \Large{\textbf{\textcolor{black} Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences
}}\\[.2in]
                 \end{center}
                \normalsize{\textbf{place}}{ }\normalsize{\textbf{\today}}
            \end{center}
        \end{minipage}
    \end{titlepage}
\end{document}

Answer 1

A more reasonable example document would be

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
xxx
\rule[3mm]{140mm}{3pt} \vspace{-0.5cm} \hspace{13pt}\rule[3mm]{130mm}{2pt}
yyy
\end{document}

which makes

You have added both rules in the same paragraph, they only appear one above the other due to line breaking so the \hspace is discarded and the \vspace is inserted after the line, so raises yyy.

You want to stack vertically so use separate paragraphs, and use \hspace* if you want space at the start of a line.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
xxx
\rule[3mm]{140mm}{3pt}
\vspace{-0.25cm}
\hspace*{13pt}\rule[3mm]{130mm}{2pt}
yyy
\end{document}

Answer 2

\noindent removes the paragraph indentation. Don't use \hspace{-<length>}, which I think was meant to negate the indentation.

If you want to stack things vertically, such as texts, minipages, tables, figures etc., you have to form separate paragraphs. Either leave an empty line(s) (which is(are) converted to \par) or add \par, explicitly. I think that is one of your major problems.

If you want exact spacing between lines specified by \vspace{}, you may want to turn off extra glue LaTeX adds between paragraph lines. Either add \nointerlineskip before the next \rule or \offinterlineskip as the first thing in the current environment, such as minipage--don't use it globally because it affects everything in that scope!

Any item that requires width as a parameter, say \rule or \includegraphics, can take a relative width to its parent box, in your case the width of minipage if you use X\linewidth--particularly 1\linewidth or simply \linewidth means the full width of a parent box.

I removed all unnecessary packages. Currently, minipages do not add to the \textwidth. I left a stretchable gap by inserting \hfill between them. If you like, change proportions of both minipages. When they add to 1\textwidth, you no longer need \hfill but keep % after the first minipage! Also, minipage adapts height of its box based on the content. There is no need for extra parameters if you expect alignment w.r.t middle points.

This is one example solution for your title

\documentclass[12pt, twoside]{book}
\usepackage[width=17cm,height=22cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[draft]{graphicx}   % Remove [draft] to render images
%%% For demostration
\usepackage{showframe}
\renewcommand\ShowFrameLinethickness{0.2pt}
\renewcommand\ShowFrameColor{\color{blue}}
\begin{document}
\begin{titlepage}
  \thispagestyle{empty}
\noindent
  \begin{minipage}{0.25\textwidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=\linewidth, height=\linewidth]{imagenes/xc.jpg}
  \end{minipage}%  <--- Keep % here to avoid extra space
  \hfill
  \begin{minipage}{0.7\textwidth}
    \offinterlineskip   % all \vspace'es mean exact space
    \centering
    {\Large\textbf{University}}
    \par\vspace{0.15in}\rule{\linewidth}{3pt}
    \par\vspace{1mm}\rule{0.9\linewidth}{2pt}
    \par\vspace{0.25in}{\fontsize{40}{50}\selectfont\textbf{Master Thesis}}
  \end{minipage}
\end{titlepage}
\end{document}