[ July 31, 2020 ] All Rights Reserved.This website is best viewed in browsers such as: Edge, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. Five of the rocket's 11 launches performed by the …
“We’ve launched from Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral, here at Wallops … We’ve launched from Kodiak as well. Under the U.S. Air Force Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 (OSP-3) contract, Northrop Grumman integrates, tests and provides space launch services for the Minotaur I, IV, V, VI and C family of rockets.Employing a combination of U.S. government-supplied rocket motors and the company's proven commercial launch technologies, the Minotaur rocket family provides low-cost and reliable access to space for government-sponsored payloads.
The launch contract for the NROL-129 mission was awarded to Northrop Grumman in 2017 through the military’s Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 procurement vehicle.The Peacekeeper rocket motors used on Wednesday’s launch were filled with pre-packed solid fuel between 1988 and 1990, then placed on alert in missile silos for 15 years until the military decommissioned the Peacekeeper in 2005, according to Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the launch enterprise division at the Space and Missile Systems Center.The Space Force maintains an “active aging surveillance program” to ensure decommissioned Peacekeeper and Minuteman missile motors can be made flightworthy in a short time when needed for a satellite launch. Minotaur V is an evolutionary version of Minotaur IV incorporating common structures with relatively minor changes to add a fifth stage. Rocket Lab identifies faulty electrical connector as cause of launch failure
Streak, at 417 kg Minotaur 1's heaviest payload to date, was inserted into a 296 × 321 km x 96.3 deg orbit. The missile motors are stored at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and refurbished there before shipping out for launch preparations.Ground teams at Wallops took precautions to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, and Northrop Grumman re-planned some operations associated with the NROL-129 mission, Eberly said.Without a waiver, U.S. government policy requires the Minotaur rocket family only be used to launch military and intelligence-gathering satellites. A solid-fueled Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket vaulted into orbit Wednesday from Virginia’s Eastern Shore and deployed four top secret spacecraft for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency, extending the program’s success record ahead of three more Minotaur missions planned in 2021.The 78-foot-tall (23.8-meter) launcher fired away from pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia at 9:46 a.m. EDT (1346 GMT) Wednesday after a 46-minute delay to wait for fishing boats to clear a hazard area near the launch site.Riding a half-million pounds of thrust, the Minotaur 4 darted into a mostly sunny sky at breathtaking speed and broke the sound barrier just 17 seconds after liftoff.Three solid-fueled rocket motors stockpiled from the U.S. Air Force’s retired Peacekeeper nuclear missile program powered the Minotaur 4 rocket into space. Beginning in 2006, Minotaur 1 began flying from Wallops Island Pad 0B. Minotaur I is capable of launching payloads up to 580 kg (1,278 lbs) into low Earth Orbit.
[ July 31, 2020 ]
Skywatcher Debbie Stone captured this photo of a Minotaur 1 rocket streaking across the night sky as seen from Charlton, Mass., on Nov. 19, 2013. It was the seventh Minotaur launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, and the first Minotaur to take off from there since 2013.“This mission marks the 27th consecutive successful launch for the company’s Minotaur product line which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year,” said Kurt Eberly, director of launch vehicles at Northrop Grumman, in a statement.