The Minotaur I, or just Minotaur is an American
expendable launch system
An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket sta ...
derived from the
Minuteman II missile.
It is used to launch
small satellites for the
US Government, and is a member of the
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...
family of rockets produced by
Orbital Sciences Corporation (now
Northrop Grumman).
Vehicle
The Minotaur I is the follow-on to the Orbital Sciences'
Taurus (later re-named the "Minotaur-C"
) launch vehicle, combining the original Taurus's booster stage with a second stage from a
Minuteman missile.
Minotaur I rockets consist of the
M55A1 first stage and
SR19 second stage of a decommissioned Minuteman missile.
The
Orion 50XL
Orion () may refer to:
Common meanings
* Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter
* Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology
* Orion (spacecraft), NASA crew vehicle first launched in 2022
Arts and media
Fictional ent ...
and
Orion 38
Orion is a series of American solid-fuel rocket stages, developed and manufactured by a joint venture between Hercules Aerospace and Alliant Techsystems (now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems). They were originally developed for use as all thre ...
, from the
Pegasus
Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...
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 manoeuvre to deploy multiple payloads.
It can place up to of payload into a
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.
[
]
Launch history
There have been twelve launches of the Minotaur I, all successful.
See also
* Comparison of orbital launchers families
* Comparison of orbital launch systems
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Minotaur (rocket family)
{{rocket-stub