The Star is a family of US

solid-propellant rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/ oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be c ...

motors originally developed by

Thiokol Thiokol was an American corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals, and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems. Its name is a portmanteau of the Greek words for sulfur () and glue (), an allusion to the company ...

and used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages. They are used almost exclusively as an upper stage, often as an apogee kick motor. The number designations refer to the approximate diameter of the fuel casing in inches. Three Star 37 stages, and one Star 48 stage, were launched on solar escape trajectories; fast enough to leave the Sun's orbit and out into interstellar space, where barring the low chance of colliding with debris, they will travel past other stars in the

Milky Way galaxy The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galaxy, which are ...

and survive potentially intact for millions of years.

Star 13

The Star 13 (TE-M-458) is a solid fuel apogee kick motor. It was used on NASA's Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform satellites. Several other versions were developed. Star 13D (TE-M-375) was used on the Syncom 1, Star 13A (TE-M-516) on LES 1/ 2, Aurora (P67-1), Orbiscal (P68-1), Lincoln Calibration Sphere 4, S3-2, Solrad 11A/B, SPX plume generator package, Freja, Meteor and Equator-S, Star C (TE-M-345-11/12) on AMSAT P3A and Star B (TE-M-763) on AMPTE-CCE payloads.

Star 17

The Star 17 (TE-M-479) is a solid fuel apogee kick motor, first launched in 1963. It was used for payloads such as Radio Astronomy Explorer,

SOLRAD SOLRAD (short for "SOLar RADiation," sometimes presented as "SOLRAD") was an American series of satellites sponsored by the United States Navy, US Navy in a program to continuously monitor the Sun. SOLRAD was the NRL, Naval Research Laboratory's fi ...

and S3 satellites. The Star 17A (TE-M-521-5) version was used for orbit circularization on Skynet 1, NATO 1, IMP-H and IMP-J satellites.

Star 20 (Altair-3A)

The Star 20 (TE-M-640) is a solid fuel apogee kick motor, also known as Altair-3A. It was used as a second stage on an Atlas-E/F vehicle launching Stacksat. The TE-M-640 motor is similar to Altair 3 (FW-4S), and both are designated by NASA as Altair IIIA.

Star 24

The Star 24 (TE-M-604) is a solid fuel apogee kick motor, first qualified in 1973. It burns an 86% solids carboxyl-terminated polybutadiene (CTPB)-based composite propellant.C.E.Carr II and D.W.Walstrum - Solid Rocket Propulsion for Small-Satellite Applications, Presented at Third Annual AIAA/Utah State University Conference on Small Satellites, Utah State University, Logan, Utah (26-28 September 1989) - Page 9
/ref> The "24" designation refers to the approximate diameter of the Titanium fuel casing in inches.

Star 26

The Star 26 (Burner 2A or TE-M-442) is an upper stage motor used in Burner II stage of the Sandia Strypi IV vehicle introduced in 1965. The Star 26B (TE-M-442-1) variant was used on the Thor-LV2F Burner-2A launcher. Star 26C (TE-M-442-2) was used on the DOT sounding rocket.

Star 27

The Star 27 is a solid apogee kick motor, with the 27 representing the approximate diameter of the stage in inches. It burns HTPB-based composite propellant with an average erosion rate of . It as used as a second stage on a version of the Atlas E/F rocket, launching the Solwind and Geosat satellites. When used on the

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

air-launch rocket payloads are capable of leaving Earth orbit. A version of the Star 27, designated Star 27H, was used in the launch of the IBEX spacecraft.IBEX
/ref> The spacecraft had a mass of 105 kg by itself and together with its Star 27 motor, 462 kg. The Star 27H helped it get to a higher orbit, beyond Earth's magnetosphere.

Star 30

The Star 30 (TE-M-700-2) is a solid fuel motor, with the 30 representing the approximate diameter of the stage in inches. Different versions (A, B, C, E and PB) were used as an apogee motor for satellites such as G-STAR, Skynet 4, Koreasat or the HS-376 satellite bus. Star 30E was used by the ORBEX small orbital launcher. A Star 30 booster was also used on the

CONTOUR Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour Airlines * Contour flying, a form of low level flight * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tab ...

comet probe.

Star 31 (Antares 1A)

The Star 31 (also known as Antares 1A or X-254) is a solid fuel motor, with the 31 representing the approximate diameter of the stage in inches. It had a thrust of 60.50 kN and a mass of 1225 kg. It was used as a stages of

WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

, Scout X,

Scout X-1 Scout X-1 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown seven times between August 1960 and October 1961. Four orbital and three suborbital launches were made, with four of the launches resulting in failures. The ...

, Blue Scout Junior, Blue Scout I, Blue Scout II, Scout X-1A and RAM B.

Star 37

The Star 37 was first used as the engine for the Thor-Burner upper stage in 1965. The Burner I used the Thiokol FW-4 (TE 364–1) engine and the Burner II used the Thiokol (TE-M-364-2). The "-37" designation refers to the approximate diameter of the titanium fuel casing in inches; Thiokol had also manufactured other motors such as the Star-40 and

Star 48 The Star 48 is the largest of a family of solid rocket motors used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages, almost exclusively as an upper stage. It was developed primarily by Thiokol Propulsion and after several mergers, is manufact ...

. Internally, Thiokol's designation was TE-M-364 for early versions, TE-M-714 for later ones, and TE-M-783 for a special HTPB model used for FLTSATCOM launches. Subtypes are given one or more letter suffixes after the diameter number, or a trailing number (i.e., "-2") after the internal designation. Not surprisingly, the "T" prefix stands for Thiokol, and the following letter refers to the company division that developed the rocket motor. In this case, "M" refers to the Magna, UT Division. "E" refers to the Elkton, MD division. The Star 37FM rocket motor was developed and qualified for use as an apogee kick motor on FLTSATCOM. The motor is a replacement for the Star 37E Delta, which has been discontinued. The Nozzle assembly uses a 3D carbon-carbon throat and a carbon- phenolic exit cone. Maximum propellant weight is , while the motor has been qualified for propellant off-loading to . A spin-stabilized or

thrust-vectoring Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the veh ...

version of Star 37 is used as the final stage of the

Minotaur V Minotaur V is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minotaur IV, itself a derivative of the retired LGM-118 Peacekeeper Intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM. Minotaur V was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation (now absorb ...

launch vehicle. The

Pioneer 10 ''Pioneer 10'' (originally designated Pioneer F) is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. ''Pioneer 10'' became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed ...

& 11, and

Voyager 1 ''Voyager 1'' is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar medium, interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days afte ...

& 2 Propulsion Modules used Star 37E motors; each is now on a similar interstellar trajectory to its companion probe, and is set to leave the Solar System (except the Pioneer 11 stage, which is thought to have remained in solar orbit).

Star 48

The Star 48 is a type of

solid rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/ oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be cr ...

motor developed primarily by Thiokol Propulsion, which was purchased by

Orbital ATK Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in February 9, 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Orbital ATK designed, built, and de ...

in 2001. In 2018, Orbital ATK in turn was acquired by

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

. The "48" designation refers to the approximate diameter of the fuel casing in inches; Thiokol had also manufactured other motors such as the Star 37 and Star 30. Internally, Thiokol's designation was TE-M-711 for early versions, and TE-M-799 for later ones. Subtypes are given one or more letter suffixes after the diameter number, or a trailing number (i.e., "-2") after the internal designation. The "T" prefix stands for Thiokol, and the following letter refers to the company division that developed the rocket motor. In this case, "E" refers to the Elkton, MD division and the "M" stands for motor. The most common use of the Star 48 was as the final stage of the

Delta II Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas, and sometimes known as the Thorad Delta 1. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family, derived directly from the Delta 3000, and entered service in ...

launch vehicles. Other launchers such as ULA's Atlas 551 have also incorporated the motor, but with lower frequency. On board the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

, the complete stage (motor plus accessories) was referred to as the

Payload Assist Module The Payload Assist Module (PAM) is a modular upper stage designed and built by McDonnell Douglas (Boeing), using Thiokol Star-series solid propellant rocket motors. The PAM was used with the Space Shuttle, Delta, and Titan launchers and carried ...

(PAM), as the Shuttle could only take satellites to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

. Because

geostationary A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

orbit is much more lucrative, the additional stage was needed for the final leg of the journey. On such missions, the stage was spin-stabilized. A turntable, mounted in the shuttle payload bay or atop the previous Delta stage, spun the PAM and payload to approximately 60 rpm prior to release. Usually after motor burnout and just prior to satellite release the spin is canceled out using a

yo-yo de-spin A yo-yo de-spin mechanism is a device used to reduce the spin of satellites, typically soon after launch. It consists of two lengths of cable with weights on the ends. The cables are wrapped around the final stage and/or satellite, in the manne ...

technique. A non-spinning,

version of the Star 48 is available ("Star 48BV"), but much less common. A thrust-vectoring Star 48 is the final stage of the Minotaur IV+ launch vehicle. A Star 48B motor used in the 3rd stage of the

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institut ...

probe was the first part of the New Horizons mission to reach

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

, crossing

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of Trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Su ...

's orbit in 2015 at a distance of 200 million kilometers.