Minotaur I
Space launch vehicle
The Minotaur I, or just Minotaur is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minuteman II missile. It is used to launch small satellites for the US Government, and is a member of the Minotaur family of rockets produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Northrop Grumman).
01Vehicle
Minotaur I rockets consist of the M55A1 first stage and SR19 second stage of a decommissioned Minuteman missile. The Orion 50XL and Orion 38, from the Pegasus rocket, are used as third and fourth stages. A HAPS (Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System) upper stage can also be flown if greater precision is needed, or the rocket needs to be able to maneuver to deploy multiple payloads. It can place up to 580 kilograms (1,280 lb) of payload into a 185-kilometer (115 mi) low Earth orbit at 28.5 degrees of inclination.
The Minotaur I is 69 feet tall and 5 feet wide.
Initially Minotaur I launches are conducted from Space Launch Complex 8 at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Starting with the launch of TacSat-2 in December 2006, launches have also been conducted from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island.
02Launch history
There have been thirteen launches of the Minotaur I, all successful.
| Flight | Date (UTC) | Payload | Launch pad | Trajectory | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 27, 2000 03:03:06 | JAWSat (P98-1) (FalconSat1 / ASUSat1 / OCSE / OPAL) | Vandenberg SLC-8 | LEO | Success |
| 2 | July 19, 2000 20:09:00 | MightySat II.1 (Sindri, P99-1) / MEMS 2A / MEMS 2B | Vandenberg SLC-8 | LEO | Success |
| 3 | April 11, 2005 13:35:00 | XSS-11 | Vandenberg SLC-8 | LEO | Success |
| 4 | September 23, 2005 02:24:00 | Streak (STP-R1) | Vandenberg SLC-8 | LEO | Success |
| 5 | April 15, 2006 01:40:00 | COSMIC (FORMOSAT-3) | Vandenberg SLC-8 | LEO | Success |
| 6 | December 16, 2006 12:00 | TacSat-2 / GeneSat-1 | MARS LP-0B | LEO | Success |
| 7 | April 24, 2007 06:48 | NFIRE | MARS LP-0B | LEO | Success |
| 8 | May 19, 2009 23:55 | TacSat-3 | MARS LP-0B | LEO | Success |
| 9 | February 6, 2011 12:26 | USA-225 (NROL-66) | Vandenberg SLC-8 | LEO | Success |
| 10 | June 30, 2011 03:09 | ORS-1 | MARS LP-0B | LEO | Success |
| 11 | November 20, 2013 01:15 | ORS-3, STPSat-3 and 28 CubeSat satellites | MARS LP-0B | LEO | Success |
| 12 | June 15, 2021 13:35 | NROL-111 | MARS LP-0B | LEO | Success |
| 13 | June 18, 2024 07:01 |
Mk21A reentry vehicle test | Vandenberg TP-01 |
Suborbital | Success |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Minotaur I”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- NFIRE1.jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
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