Minotaur-1 (OSP-SLV)

Launch Vehicles | Minuteman family | Minotaur-1 versions

Minotaur-1
(Mightysat 2.1) [OSC]

Minotaur-1
(TacSat 3) [OSC]

The Minotaur (formerly OSP, Orbital Suborbital Program) launch vehicles consits of components of retired Minuteman-2 missiles combined with new fabricated parts to create a low cost launch vehicle for modest orbital missions and sub orbital target delivery. Common for all versions are the M-55 and SR-19 first and second stages taken from the Minuteman-2. The Minotaur-2 Target Launch Vehicle (OSP-TLV) features also a M-57A third stage of the original Minuteman-2. The Satellite Launch Vehicle, also known as Minotaur-1, uses Orion-50XL and a Orion-38 Motors of Pegasus heritage as upper stages.

The performance and accuracy of orbital insertion can be increased by using the HAPS (Hydrazine Auxilary Propulsion System), which has flown several times as an upper stage of the Pegasus HAPS and Pegasus-XL HAPS rockets.

The Minotaur-1 can use a small fairing derived from the Pegasus-fairing or a larger diameter fairing.

Minotaur vehicles are not commercially available and are only used for governmental missions.

Version	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4
Minotaur-1 (OSP-SLV)	M-55E1	SR-19-AJ-1	Orion-50XL	Orion-38

Performance (kg)	LEO	LPEO	SSO	GTO	GEO	MolO	IP
Minotaur-1 (OSP-SLV)	550	400		-	-

No.TNo Type           Date       LS       Fai  Payload 

 1  1  Minotaur-1     26.01.00   Va CLF    S   JAWSAT(P98-1)/FalconSat1/ASUSat1/OCSE/OPAL/MEMS 1A/MEMS 1B/STENSAT/MASAT(JAK)/Thelma/Louise
 2  2  Minotaur-1     19.07.00   Va CLF    S   Mightysat 2.1 (Sindri, P99-1) / MEMS 2A / MEMS 2B
 3  3  Minotaur-1     11.04.05   Va SLC-8  S   XSS 11 (USA 165)
 4  4  Minotaur-1     23.09.05   Va SLC-8  S   Streak (STP-R1, USA 185)
 5  5  Minotaur-1     15.04.06   Va SLC-8  S   FORMOSAT 3A/FORMOSAT 3B/FORMOSAT 3C/FORMOSAT 3D/FORMOSAT 3E/FORMOSAT 3F/LCT2
 6  6  Minotaur-1     16.12.06   WI LA-0B  L   TacSat 2 / GeneSat 1
 7  7  Minotaur-1     24.04.07   WI LA-0B  L   NFIRE
 8  8  Minotaur-1     19.05.09   WI LA-0B  L   TacSat 3 / PharmaSat 1 / HawkSat 1 / CP 6 / AeroCube 3


planned launches

 x  x  Minotaur-1     xx.01.11   WI LA-0B  L   ORS-Sat 1



Launch Sites

CC    Cape Canaveral
Kd    Narrow Cape (Kodiak Island)
Va    Vandenberg AFB; SLC-8 (ex CLF)
WI    Wallops Island; LA-0B

* = suborbital