![]() Taurus-1110 (STEP 0, DARPASAT) [OSC] |
![]() Taurus-2110 (KOMPSAT 1, ACRIMSat) [OSC] |
![]() Taurus-2210 (GFO, Orbcomm FM3, 4) [OSC] |
![]() Taurus-3110 (OCO) [NASA] |
![]() Taurus-3210 (ROCSAT 2) [OSC] |
The Taurus has been created by adding the stages of Pegasus (without wing and fins) to a Peacekeeper first stage or a Castor-120. It has been designed as a quick reaction launch vehicle, which can be launched from minimaly prepared places in a matter of a few days.
The coding of variants is as below:
1. digit = first stage (1 = TU-903; 2 = Castor-120)
2. digit = size of fairing (1 = small, 2 = large)
3. digit = type of Stage 4 (1 = Orion-38, 3 = Star-37FM)
4. digit = type of optional Stage 5 (0 = none, 3 = Star-37FM)
It is not clear, how the XL versions were to fit into this coding system.
In early 2014, the Taurus brand was discontinued and replaced by the Minotaur-C, which is in fact a Taurus with Minotaur avionics.
→ complete list of all Peacekeeper / Castor-120 based rockets
Performance (kg) | LEO | LPEO | SSO | GTO | GEO | MolO | IP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taurus-1110 (ARPA-Taurus) / Minotaur-C-1110 | 1180 | 1160 | 750 | 370 | - | ||
Taurus-2110 (Commercial-Taurus) / Minotaur-C-2110 | 1250 | 1180 | 900 | 375 | - | ||
Taurus-2210 (Commercial-Taurus) / Minotaur-C-2210 | 1050 | 1180 | 700 | - | |||
Taurus-3110 (Taurus-XL) / Minotaur-C-XL-3110 (Minotaur-C-XL) | 1450 | 1050 | 445 | - | 295 | ||
Taurus-3210 (Taurus-XL) / Minotaur-C-XL-3210 (Minotaur-C-XL) | 1275 | 880 | - | 295 | |||
Taurus-XL/S | 2180 | 1750 | 640 | - | 380 | ||
No: Type Date LS Payload
1 1 Taurus-1110 T-1 13.03.1994 Va 576E STEP 0 (P90-5, USA 101) / DARPASAT (USA 102) 2 1 Taurus-2210 T-2 10.02.1998 Va 576E GFO / Orbcomm FM03 / Orbcomm FM04 / Celestis 03 3 2 Taurus-1110 T-3 03.10.1998 Va 576E STEX (USA 140) / ATEx-UEB / ATEx-LEB 4 1 Taurus-2110 T-4 21.12.1999 Va 576E KOMPSAT 1 (Arirang 1) / ACRIMSat / Celestis 04 5 3 Taurus-1110 T-5 13.03.2000 Va 576E MTI (P97-3) 6 2 Taurus-2110 T-6 21.09.2001 Va 576E F OrbView 4 / QuikTOMS / SBD / Celestis 05 7 1 Taurus-3210 T-7 20.05.2004 Va 576E ROCSAT 2 8 1 Taurus-3110 T-8 24.02.2009 Va 576E F OCO (ESSP 5) 9 2 Taurus-3110 T-9 04.03.2011 Va 576E F Glory / E1P / KySat 1 / Hermes 10 2 Minotaur-C-XL-3210 x 31.10.2017 Va 576E SkySat 8 / SkySat 9 / SkySat 10 / SkySat 11 / SkySat 12 / SkySat 13 / Flock-3m 1, ..., 4 planned: Failures: Flight 6: Problems after separation of stage 1, orbit not attained Flight 8: Payload fairing not seperated, orbit not attained Flight 9: Payload fairing not seperated, orbit not attained Launch sites: Va = Vandenberg AFB, California, USA/ 576E