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Minotaur (rocket family)

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The Minotaur is a family of United States solid-fuel launch vehicles repurposed from retired Minuteman and Peacekeeper model intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built by Northrop Grumman under the Space Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program, these vehicles are used for various space and test launch missions.

Minotaur on a launch pad at Wallops Flight Facility
Minotaur-C in 2017

The Minotaur family consists of four main variants: the Minotaur I, primarily used for launching small satellites into low Earth orbit; the Minotaur II, used as a primarily used suborbital target vehicle; the Minotaur IV, a small-lift launch vehicle; and the Minotaur V, capable of reaching higher orbits, including geostationary transfer orbit and trans-lunar trajectories. Minotaur I and II are derived from the Minuteman missile, while Minotaur IV, V, and the cancelled Minotaur III are based on the Peacekeeper ICBM.

Vehicles

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Minotaur-C (Taurus)

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Main article: Minotaur-C

The Taurus launch vehicle, later renamed [1] Minotaur-C (for "Minotaur-Commercial"), was the first of the Minotaur vehicle family, and the first ground-launched orbital booster developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), derived by adding a solid booster stage to the air-launched Pegasus rocket.

The first flight, sponsored by DARPA, was in 1994. After a series of failures between 2001 and 2011, the launch vehicle was rebranded as Minotaur-C in 2014. Due to laws against selling government equipment, the Minotaur-C is the only available Minotaur launch vehicle for commercial launches.[citation needed]

Minotaur I

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Main article: Minotaur I
 
Minotaur I with NFIRE

The original Minotaur launch vehicle, consisting of an M55A1 first stage, SR19 second stage, Orion 50XL third stage, Orion 38 fourth stage, and optional HAPS fifth stage for velocity trim and multiple payload deployment. Payload 580 kg to a 185 km, 28.5° orbit from Cape Canaveral; or 310 kg to a 740 km Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) from Vandenberg.[2]

Minotaur II

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Main article: Minotaur II

A suborbital target vehicle, essentially consisting of a Minuteman II with Orbital guidance and control systems. Consists of M55A1 first stage, SR19 second stage, and M57 third stage. Payload 460 kg on 6700 km suborbital trajectory.[2]

Minotaur III

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Main article: Minotaur III
 
Minotaur II, Vandenberg

A suborbital target vehicle, consisting of an SR118 first stage, SR119 second stage, SR120 third stage, and Super HAPS fourth stage. Payload 3060 kg on a 6700 km suborbital trajectory.[2] The vehicle's development was cancelled and the Minotaur III was never flown.[citation needed]

Minotaur IV

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Main article: Minotaur IV
 
Minotaur IV, Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The Minotaur IV combines U.S. government-furnished solid rocket motors from decommissioned Peacekeeper ICBMs with technologies from other Orbital-built launch vehicles, including the Minotaur I, Pegasus, and Taurus. The Minotaur IV launch vehicle consists of an SR118 first stage, SR119 second stage, SR120 third stage, and Orion 38 fourth stage. Payload 1735 kg to a 185 km, 28.5° orbit from Cape Canaveral.

The first Minotaur IV was launched 22 April 2010 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.[3] This vehicle is also being developed to accommodate the Conventional Prompt Global Strike (CPGS) mission for the Air Force.

Minotaur V

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Main article: Minotaur V
 
Minotaur V carrying LADEE

The Minotaur V is a five-stage version based on the Minotaur IV+. It has an additional upper stage for small geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), lunar, and interplanetary missions.

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission was launched on the first Minotaur V, from the Wallops Island, Virginia launch site at 03:27 UTC on 7 September 2013. The Minotaur launched the LADEE spacecraft into a highly elliptic orbit where it can phase and time its trajectory burn to the moon.[4]

Minotaur VI

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Main article: Minotaur VI

The Minotaur VI is a five-stage launch vehicle proposed by Northrop Grumman that, as of 2024, has not flown. Minotaur VI is based on the Minotaur IV+, adding a second SR-118 first stage to increase performance.[5] A further enhanced variant, Minotaur VI+, is also proposed for beyond low Earth orbit missions using an added Star 37FM sixth stage motor. For example, Minotaur VI+ can send up to 300 kilograms (660 lb) of payload to Mars.

Launch statistics

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Rocket configurations

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1
2
3
4
5
'94
'95
'96
'97
'98
'99
'00
'01
'02
'03
'04
'05
'06
'07
'08
'09
'10
'11
'12
'13
'14
'15
'16
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24
  •   Minotaur-C
  •   Minotaur I
  •   Minotaur II
  •   Minotaur II+
  •   Minotaur IV
  •   Minotaur IV Lite
  •   Minotaur IV HAPS
  •   Minotaur IV+
  •   Minotaur V

Launch sites

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1
2
3
4
5
'94
'95
'96
'97
'98
'99
'00
'01
'02
'03
'04
'05
'06
'07
'08
'09
'10
'11
'12
'13
'14
'15
'16
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24

Launch outcomes

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1
2
3
4
5
'94
'95
'96
'97
'98
'99
'00
'01
'02
'03
'04
'05
'06
'07
'08
'09
'10
'11
'12
'13
'14
'15
'16
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24
'25
  •   Success
  •   Failure
  •   Planned

Launch history

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1994

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
1 13 March 1994
22:32 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E STEP Mission 0 and DARPASAT USAF/DARPA[6][7] Success

1998

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
2 10 February 1998
13:20 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E GFO and Orbcomm (satellites 11,12) Success
3 3 October 1998
10:04 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E Space Technology Experiment (STEX) NRO Success

1999

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
4 21 December 1999
07:13 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E KOMPSAT and ACRIMSAT Success

2000

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
5 27 January 2000
03:03:06 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, SLC-8 JAWSat (P98-1) (FalconSat1 / ASUSat1 / OCSE / OPAL) LEO Success
6 12 March 2000
09:29 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI) Success
7 28 May 2000
20:00 		Minotaur II Vandenberg, LF-06 OSP-TLV Missile Defense Technology Demonstrator Suborbital Success
8 19 July 2000
20:09:00 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, SLC-8 MightySat II.1 (Sindri, P99-1) / MEMS 2A / MEMS 2B LEO Success

2001

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
9 21 September 2001
18:49 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E Orbview-4/QuikTOMS Failure
10 4 December 2001
04:59 		Minotaur II Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-1 IFT-7 GMDS target mission Suborbital Success

2002

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
11 16 March 2002
02:11 		Minotaur II Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-2 IFT-8 GMDS target mission Suborbital Success
12 15 October 2002
02:01 		Minotaur II Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-3 GMDS target mission Suborbital Success
13 11 December 2002
08:26 		Minotaur II Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-4 GMDS target mission Suborbital Success

2004

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
14 20 May 2004
17:47 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E ROCSAT-2 Success

2005

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Flight No. Date / time (UTC) Rocket,
Configuration 		Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
15 11 April 2005
13:35:00 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, SLC-8 XSS-11 LEO Success
16 22 September 2005
19:24:00 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, SLC-8 Streak (STP-R1) LEO Success

2006

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
17 15 April 2006
01:40:00 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, SLC-8 COSMIC (FORMOSAT-3) LEO Success
18 16 December 2006
12:00 		Minotaur I MARS, LP-0B TacSat-2 / GeneSat-1 LEO Success

2007

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
19 21 March 2007
04:27 		Minotaur II Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-5 FTX-02 SBR target mission Suborbital Success
20 24 April 2007
06:48 		Minotaur I MARS, LP-0B NFIRE LEO Success
21 23 August 2007
08:30 		Minotaur II+ Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-7 Mission 2a sensor target for NFIRE satellite Suborbital Success

2008

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
22 24 September 2008
06:57 		Minotaur II+ Vandenberg, LF-06 TLV-8 Mission 2b sensor target for NFIRE satellite Suborbital Success

2009

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
23 24 February 2009
09:55 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E Orbiting Carbon Observatory[8] Failure
24 19 May 2009
23:55 		Minotaur I MARS, LP-0B TacSat-3 / PharmaSat / AeroCube 3 / HawkSat I / CP6 LEO Success

2010

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
25 22 April 2010
23:00 		Minotaur IV Lite Vandenberg, SLC-8 HTV-2a hypersonic research spacecraft Suborbital Success
26 26 September 2010
04:41 		Minotaur IV Vandenberg, SLC-8 SBSS SSO Success
27 20 November 2010
01:25 		Minotaur IV HAPS Kodiak Island, LP-1 STP-S26 (FASTRAC-A / FASTRAC-B / FalconSat-5 / FASTSAT / O/OREOS / RAX) LEO Success

2011

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
28 6 February 2011
12:26 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, SLC-8 NROL-66 LEO Success
29 4 March 2011
10:09 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E Glory, KySat-1, Hermes, and Explorer-1 [PRIME] Failure[9]
30 30 June 2011
03:09 		Minotaur I MARS, LP-0B ORS-1 LEO Success
31 11 August 2011
14:45 		Minotaur IV Lite Vandenberg, SLC-8 Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2b) Suborbital Success
32 27 September 2011
15:49 		Minotaur IV+ Kodiak Island, LP-1 TacSat-4 MEO Success

2013

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
33 7 September 2013
03:27 		Minotaur V MARS, LP-0B LADEE HEO Success
34 20 November 2013
01:15 		Minotaur I MARS, LP-0B ORS-3 (STPSat-3 along with 28 additional cubesats) LEO Success[10][11]

2017

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
35 26 August 2017
06:04 		Minotaur IV Cape Canaveral, SLC-46 ORS-5 LEO Success
36 31 October 2017
21:37 		Minotaur-C Vandenberg, SLC-576E SkySat × 6, Flock-3m × 4 Success

2020

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
37 15 July 2020
13:46 		Minotaur IV MARS, LP-0B NROL-129 (USA 305 to USA 308)[12] LEO NRO Success

2021

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
38 15 June 2021
13:35[13] 		Minotaur I MARS, LP-0B NROL-111 (USA 316 to USA 318)[14] LEO NRO Success

2022

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
39 7 July 2022
06:01[15] 		Minotaur II+ Vandenberg, TP-01 Mk21A reentry vehicle[16] Suborbital AFNWC Failure

2024

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Flight No. Date and time (UTC) Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer Launch
outcome
40 18 June 2024
07:01[17] 		Minotaur I Vandenberg, TP-01 Mk21A reentry vehicle[18] Suborbital AFNWC Success

Planned launches

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Date and time (UTC)[19] Rocket configuration Launch site Payload Orbit Customer
2024 Minotaur IV Vandenberg, SLC-8 NROL-174 LEO NRO
May 2025 Minotaur IV Vandenberg, SLC-8 USSF-261S-A (EWS-OD 1)[20][21] LEO U.S. Space Force
Sep 2025 Minotaur IV Vandenberg, SLC-8 STPSat-7[22] LEO U.S. Space Force

See also

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  • Dnepr, a converted Soviet ICBM often used for commercial satellite launches
  • Modified Minotaur IV, Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2), was a suborbital flight to test the Launch Abort System (LAS) of NASA's Orion spacecraft. The suborbital flight used a modified Minotaur IV, launched 2 July 2019, at 11:00 UTC from CCAFS SLC-46. The suborbital flight was a success. Reference: Wikipedia article Ascent Abort-2.

References

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  1. ^ Stephen Clark, "Taurus rocket on the market with new name, upgrades", Spaceflight Now 24 February 2014
  2. ^ a b c "Minotaur". Encyclopedia Astronautix. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009.
  3. ^ "Minotaur IV". Orbital Sciences Corporation.
  4. ^ Culler, Jessica (16 June 2015). "LADEE - Lunar Atmosphere Dust and Environment Explorer". NASA. Retrieved 1 August 2017.   This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. ^ "Orbital ATK" (PDF). Orbital Sciences Corporation. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  6. ^ "DARPASAT". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Encyclopedia Astronautica: TAOS". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  8. ^ "OCO". Orbital Sciences Corporation.
  9. ^ "Taurus rocket nose shroud dooms another NASA satellite". Spaceflight Now, March 2011.
  10. ^ Powell, Rebecca (16 April 2015). "Air Force Minotaur Rocket Launching from Virginia November 19". Nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  11. ^ "ORS-3 and STPSat-3 Successfully Launched". Losangeles.af.mil. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
  12. ^ Krebs, Gunter (25 August 2021). "USA 305, ..., 308 (NROL 129 PL1, ..., 4)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Northrop Grumman Successfully Launches Minotaur I Rocket for the National Reconnaissance Office". Northrop Grumman. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  14. ^ Krebs, Gunter (24 June 2021). "USA 316, 317, 318 (NROL 111)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  15. ^ Scully, Janene (7 July 2022). "Missile Test Ends in Explosion Seconds After Launch from Vandenberg SFB". Noozhawk. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  16. ^ Martinez-Pogue, Jade (6 July 2022). "Test rocket launch scheduled from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday morning". KEYT-TV. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  17. ^ "Mk21A RV TEST LAUNCH SHOWCASES READINESS". Vandenberg Space Force Base. 18 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  18. ^ Hadley, Greg (18 June 2024). "Air Force, Lockheed Test New Reentry Vehicle for Sentinel ICBM". Air & Space Forces Magazine. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  19. ^ Baylor, Michael. "Upcoming Launches: SpaceX". Next Spaceflight. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  20. ^ Erwin, Sandra (25 May 2023). "Northrop Grumman wins $45 million Space Force contract to launch small weather satellite". SpaceNews. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  21. ^ https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=-vdVwK15vfM%3d&portalid=3 [bare URL]
  22. ^ "NRL LARADO Instrument to Detect Lethal Orbital Debris, Integrated on STP Satellite".
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