Minotaur (rocket family)

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

Minotaur-C (Taurus)

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

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

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

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.

Minotaur IV

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

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

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

Rocket configurations

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'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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•   Vandenberg, LF-06
•   Vandenberg, SLC-8
•   Vandenberg, SLC-576E
•   Vandenberg, TP-01
•   Kodiak Island, LP-1
•   Cape Canaveral, SLC-46
•   MARS, LP-0B

Launch outcomes

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•   Success
•   Failure
•   Planned

Launch history

1994
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
1	March 13, 1994 22:32	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	STEP Mission 0 and DARPASAT		USAF/DARPA[6][7]	Success
1998
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
2	February 10, 1998 13:20	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	GFO and Orbcomm (satellites 11,12)			Success
3	October 3, 1998 10:04	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	Space Technology Experiment (STEX)		NRO	Success
1999
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
4	December 21, 1999 07:13	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	KOMPSAT and ACRIMSAT			Success
2000
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
5	January 27, 2000 03:03:06	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, SLC-8	JAWSat (P98-1) (FalconSat1 / ASUSat1 / OCSE / OPAL)	LEO		Success
6	March 12, 2000 09:29	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	Multispectral Thermal Imager (MTI)			Success
7	May 28, 2000 20:00	Minotaur II	Vandenberg, LF-06	OSP-TLV Missile Defense Technology Demonstrator	Suborbital		Success
8	July 19, 2000 20:09:00	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, SLC-8	MightySat II.1 (Sindri, P99-1) / MEMS 2A / MEMS 2B	LEO		Success
2001
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
9	September 21, 2001 18:49	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	Orbview-4/QuikTOMS			Failure
10	December 4, 2001 04:59	Minotaur II	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-1 IFT-7 GMDS target mission	Suborbital		Success
2002
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
11	March 16, 2002 02:11	Minotaur II	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-2 IFT-8 GMDS target mission	Suborbital		Success
12	October 15, 2002 02:01	Minotaur II	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-3 GMDS target mission	Suborbital		Success
13	December 11, 2002 08:26	Minotaur II	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-4 GMDS target mission	Suborbital		Success
2004
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
14	May 20, 2004 17:47	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	ROCSAT-2			Success
2005
Flight No.	Date / time (UTC)	Rocket, Configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
15	April 11, 2005 13:35:00	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, SLC-8	XSS-11	LEO		Success
16	September 22, 2005 19:24:00	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, SLC-8	Streak (STP-R1)	LEO		Success
2006
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
17	April 15, 2006 01:40:00	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, SLC-8	COSMIC (FORMOSAT-3)	LEO		Success
18	December 16, 2006 12:00	Minotaur I	MARS, LP-0B	TacSat-2 / GeneSat-1	LEO		Success
2007
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
19	March 21, 2007 04:27	Minotaur II	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-5 FTX-02 SBR target mission	Suborbital		Success
20	April 24, 2007 06:48	Minotaur I	MARS, LP-0B	NFIRE	LEO		Success
21	August 23, 2007 08:30	Minotaur II+	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-7 Mission 2a sensor target for NFIRE satellite	Suborbital		Success
2008
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
22	September 24, 2008 06:57	Minotaur II+	Vandenberg, LF-06	TLV-8 Mission 2b sensor target for NFIRE satellite	Suborbital		Success
2009
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
23	February 24, 2009 09:55	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	Orbiting Carbon Observatory[8]			Failure
24	May 19, 2009 23:55	Minotaur I	MARS, LP-0B	TacSat-3 / PharmaSat / AeroCube 3 / HawkSat I / CP6	LEO		Success
2010
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
25	April 22, 2010 23:00	Minotaur IV Lite	Vandenberg, SLC-8	HTV-2a hypersonic research spacecraft	Suborbital		Success
26	September 26, 2010 04:41	Minotaur IV	Vandenberg, SLC-8	SBSS	SSO		Success
27	November 20, 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
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
28	February 6, 2011 12:26	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, SLC-8	NROL-66	LEO		Success
29	March 4, 2011 10:09	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	Glory, KySat-1, Hermes, and Explorer-1 [PRIME]			Failure[9]
30	June 30, 2011 03:09	Minotaur I	MARS, LP-0B	ORS-1	LEO		Success
31	August 11, 2011 14:45	Minotaur IV Lite	Vandenberg, SLC-8	Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2b)	Suborbital		Success
32	September 27, 2011 15:49	Minotaur IV+	Kodiak Island, LP-1	TacSat-4	MEO		Success
2013
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
33	September 7, 2013 03:27	Minotaur V	MARS, LP-0B	LADEE	HEO		Success
34	November 20, 2013 01:15	Minotaur I	MARS, LP-0B	ORS-3 (STPSat-3 along with 28 additional cubesats)	LEO		Success[10][11]
2017
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
35	August 26, 2017 06:04	Minotaur IV	Cape Canaveral, SLC-46	ORS-5	LEO		Success
36	October 31, 2017 21:37	Minotaur-C	Vandenberg, SLC-576E	SkySat × 6, Flock-3m × 4			Success
2020
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
37	July 15, 2020 13:46	Minotaur IV	MARS, LP-0B	NROL-129 (USA 305 to USA 308)[12]	LEO	NRO	Success
2021
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
38	June 15, 2021 13:35[13]	Minotaur I	MARS, LP-0B	NROL-111 (USA 316 to USA 318)[14]	LEO	NRO	Success
2022
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
39	July 7, 2022 06:01[15]	Minotaur II+	Vandenberg, TP-01	Mk21A reentry vehicle[16]	Suborbital	AFNWC	Failure
2024
Flight No.	Date and time (UTC)	Rocket configuration	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Customer	Launch outcome
40	June 18, 2024 07:01[17]	Minotaur I	Vandenberg, TP-01	Mk21A reentry vehicle[18]	Suborbital	AFNWC	Success

Planned launches

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

• Spaceflight portal

• 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 July 2, 2019, at 11:00 UTC from CCAFS SLC-46. The suborbital flight was a success. Reference: Wikipedia article Ascent Abort-2.

References

1. Stephen Clark, "Taurus rocket on the market with new name, upgrades", Spaceflight Now 24 February 2014
2. "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. {{https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3889667/nrl-larado-instrument-to-detect-lethal-orbital-debris-integrated-on-stp-satelli/

External links

• Minotaur I Rocket page
• Minotaur IV Rocket page
• NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Image of the September 2005 launch (28 September 2005)
• Encyclopedia Astronautix Entry for Minotaur