Minotaur (rocket family)

For the launch vehicle formerly known as Taurus, see Minotaur-C.

The Minotaur is a family of American solid fuel rockets derived from converted Minuteman and Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles. They are built by Orbital Sciences Corporation via contract with the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Space Development and Test Directorate (SMC/SD) as part of the Air Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program which converts retired Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) into space and test launch systems for US Government Agencies.

Three variants of the Minotaur are currently in service. The Minotaur I is an orbital launch system used to launch small satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). The Minotaur II is a target launch vehicle (TLV), also known as Chimera, used for suborbital flights, often as a target for tracking and anti-ballistic missile tests. The Minotaur IV is a more capable LEO launch system. The Minotaur V, which is designed to reach higher orbits, including geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) and trans-lunar trajectories. A version under development: the Minotaur III, which will also be used for suborbital flights. The Minotaur I and II are derived from the Minuteman missile, while the Minotaur III, IV and V are derived from the Peacekeeper.

Minotaur I

Main article: Minotaur I

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 degree orbit from Cape Canaveral; or 310 kg to a 740 km sun-synchronous orbit from Vandenberg.^[1]

Minotaur II

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.^[1]

Minotaur III

Main article: Minotaur III

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.^[1]

Minotaur IV

Main article: Minotaur IV

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 degree orbit from Cape Canaveral. The first Minotaur IV was launched April 22, 2010 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.^[2] This vehicle is also being developed to accommodate the Conventional Prompt Global Strike mission for the Air Force. (CPGS)

Minotaur V

Main article: Minotaur V

The Minotaur V is a five-stage version based on the Minotaur IV+. It has an additional upper stage for small 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 September 7, 2013. The Minotaur launched the LADEE spacecraft into a highly elliptic orbit where it can phase and time its trajectory burn to the moon.^[3]

Minotaur VI

A Minotaur VI five-stage version has also been conceptualized. It is also based on the Minotaur IV+, adding a second SR-118 first stage.^[4]

Launch history

Date (UTC)	Rocket	Flight	Payload	Launch pad	Trajectory	Result
January 27, 2000 03:03:06	Minotaur I	1	JAWSat (P98-1) (FalconSat1 / ASUSat1 / OCSE / OPAL)	Vandenberg SLC-8	LEO	Success
May 28, 2000 20:00	Minotaur II	1	OSP-TLV Missile Defense Technology Demonstrator	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
July 19, 2000 20:09:00	Minotaur I	2	MightySat II.1 (Sindri, P99-1) / MEMS 2A / MEMS 2B	Vandenberg SLC-8	LEO	Success
December 4, 2001 04:59	Minotaur II	2	TLV-1 IFT-7 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
March 16, 2002 02:11	Minotaur II	3	TLV-2 IFT-8 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
October 15, 2002 02:01	Minotaur II	4	TLV-3 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
December 11, 2002 08:26	Minotaur II	5	TLV-4 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
April 11, 2005 13:35:00	Minotaur I	3	XSS-11	Vandenberg SLC-8	LEO	Success
September 22, 2005 19:24:00	Minotaur I	4	Streak (STP-R1)	Vandenberg SLC-8	LEO	Success
April 15, 2006 01:40:00	Minotaur I	5	COSMIC (FORMOSAT-3)	Vandenberg SLC-8	LEO	Success
December 16, 2006 12:00	Minotaur I	6	TacSat-2 / GeneSat-1	MARS LP-0B	LEO	Success
March 21, 2007 04:27	Minotaur II	6	TLV-5 FTX-02 SBR target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
April 24, 2007 06:48	Minotaur I	7	NFIRE	MARS LP-0B	LEO	Success
August 23, 2007 08:30	Minotaur II+	7	TLV-7 Mission 2a sensor target for NFIRE satellite	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
September 24, 2008 06:57	Minotaur II+	8	TLV-8 Mission 2b sensor target for NFIRE satellite	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
May 19, 2009 23:55	Minotaur I	8	TacSat-3 / PharmaSat / AeroCube 3 / HawkSat I / CP6	MARS LP-0B	LEO	Success
April 22, 2010 23:00	Minotaur IV Lite	1	HTV-2a hypersonic research spacecraft	Vandenberg SLC-8	Suborbital	Success
September 26, 2010 04:41	Minotaur IV	2	SBSS	Vandenberg SLC-8	SSO	Success
November 20, 2010 01:25	Minotaur IV HAPS	3	FASTRAC-A / FASTRAC-B / FalconSat-5 / FASTSAT / O/OREOS / RAX	Kodiak LP-1	LEO	Success
February 6, 2011 12:26	Minotaur I	9	NROL-66	Vandenberg SLC-8	LEO	Success
June 30, 2011 03:09	Minotaur I	10	ORS-1	MARS LP-0B	LEO	Success
August 11, 2011 14:45	Minotaur IV Lite	4	Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2b)	Vandenberg Air Force Base	Suborbital	Success
September 27, 2011 15:49	Minotaur IV+	5	TacSat-4	Kodiak LP-1	MEO	Success
September 7, 2013 03:27	Minotaur V	1	LADEE	MARS LP-0B	HEO	Success
November 20, 2013 01:15	Minotaur I	11	STPSat-3 along with 28 additional cubesats	MARS LP-0B	LEO	Success^[5]^[6]

References

1 2 3 "Minotaur". Encyclopedia Astronautix.
↑ "Minotaur IV". Orbital Sciences Corporation.
↑ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ladee/main/index.html#.UhaLbJLryXs
↑ http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publications/Minotaur6_Fact.pdf
↑ http://www.nasa.gov/content/air-force-minotaur-rocket-launching-from-virginia-november-19/#.UqDMg_lJPDE
↑ http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/MissionUpdates/MinotaurI_ORS-3/

External links

Rocket families

Carrier rockets

Soviet Union / Russia	Angara Kosmos N1 Proton R-7 Molniya Soyuz Vostok Tsyklon Universal Rocket Zenit

USA	Antares Athena Atlas Delta Falcon Minotaur Saturn Scout Titan Thor

China	Long March 1 2 3 4 6 11 Kuaizhou

Europe	Ariane Diamant Europa Vega

India	PSLV GSLV LVM3

Japan	Epsilon H-II / H-IIA / H-IIB Mu

Other nations	Safir Shavit Unha

Sounding rockets

Missiles

Some families include both missiles and carrier rockets; they are listed in both groups.

Orbital launch systems

See also: Comparison of orbital launch systems

Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Antares 200 Ariane 5 Atlas V Delta II IV Dnepr Epsilon Falcon 9 v1.2 "Full Thrust" GSLV H-IIA H-IIB Kuaizhou Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B 3C 4B 4C 5 6 7 11 LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus Proton-M PSLV Rokot Safir Shavit Simorgh Soyuz U FG Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v Strela Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F

In development	Angara A5P A5V Antares 300 Ariane 6 Electron Falcon 9 "Block 5" Falcon Heavy Firefly α H3 ITS KZ-11 KZ-21 Long March 8 9 LauncherOne Mayak Naga-L Naro-2 New Glenn Orel Proton Light Medium RPS SLS Soyuz-5 SPARK SS-520 Tronador II Tsyklon-4 ULV VLM Vulcan

Retired	Antares 100 Ariane 1 2 3 4 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 III Diamant Energia Europa Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 Feng Bao 1 H-I H-II Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 2A 2E 3 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1 N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan Pilot Proton UR-500 K R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Saturn I IB V INT-21 Scout SLV Space Shuttle Sparta Start-1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon 2 3 Vanguard Zenit 2 2M

United States orbital launch systems

Active	Antares Atlas V Delta II IV Heavy Falcon 9 Full Thrust Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus

In development	Athena Ic IIc III Falcon Heavy ITS New Glenn SLS SPARK Vulcan

Retired	Ares I V Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 III Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 H-I* Juno I Juno II N-I* N-II* Pilot Saturn I IB V INT-21 Scout Shuttle Sparta Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Vanguard

* - Japanese projects using US rockets or stages

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