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Minotaur-1 (OSP-SLV)

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     27.01.2000   Va CLF     S   JAWSAT (P98-1) / FalconSat 1 / ASUSat 1 / OCSE / OPAL / MEMS 1A / MEMS 1B / STENSAT / JAK / Thelma /
                                                     Louise
 2    2   Minotaur-1     19.07.2000   Va CLF     S   Mightysat 2.1 (Sindri, P99-1) / MEMS 2A / MEMS 2B
 3    3   Minotaur-1     11.04.2005   Va SLC-8   S   XSS 11 (USA 165)
 4    4   Minotaur-1     23.09.2005   Va SLC-8   S   Streak (STP-R1, USA 185)
 5    5   Minotaur-1     15.04.2006   Va SLC-8   S   FORMOSAT 3A / FORMOSAT 3B / FORMOSAT 3C / FORMOSAT 3D / FORMOSAT 3E / FORMOSAT 3F
 6    6   Minotaur-1     16.12.2006   WI LA-0B   L   TacSat 2 / GeneSat 1
 7    7   Minotaur-1     24.04.2007   WI LA-0B   L   NFIRE
 8    8   Minotaur-1     19.05.2009   WI LA-0B   L   TacSat 3 / PharmaSat 1 / HawkSat 1 / CP 6 / AeroCube 3
 9    9   Minotaur-1     06.02.2011   Va SLC-8   S   RPP (USA 225, NROL 66)
10   10   Minotaur-1     30.06.2011   WI LA-0B   L   ORS 1 (USA 231) 
11   11   Minotaur-1     20.11.2013   WI LA-0B   L   ORS 3 / STPSat 3 / ORSES / ORS Tech 1 / ORS Tech 2 / SENSE 1 / SENSE 2 / Firefly / Ho‘oponopono 2 /
                                                     STARE B (Horus) / Prometheus 1.1, ..., 1.8 / Black Knight 1 / NPS-SCAT / COPPER / Trailblazer 1 /
                                                     SwampSat / CAPE 2 / Vermont Lunar Cubesat / ChargerSat 1 / DragonSat 1 / KySat 2 / TJ3Sat / PhoneSat v2.4
12   12   Minotaur-1     15.06.2021   WI LA-0B   L   USA 316, 317, 318 (NROL 111)


planned launches


Launch sites:

CC  = Spaceport Florida, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA USA/ SLC-46
Kd  = Kodiak Launch Complex, Kodiak Island, Narrow Cape, Alaska, USA USA/ LP-1
Va  = Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA USA/ SLC-8 (ex CLF)
WI  = Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Island, Virginia, USA USA/ LA-0B

* = suborbital

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