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Minotaur  

Minotaur is a four-stage solid fuel expendable launch vehicle. It combines two surplus Minuteman 2 ICBM booster stages with two Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL upper stages and a Pegasus XL payload fairing.  A Pegasus XL avionics assembly, mounted atop Stage 4, provides vehicle guidance and control.  The vehicle can put 640 kg into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). 

Minotaur, part of the U.S. Air Force Orbital Suborbital Program, is limited to U.S. government missions that comply with Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty limitations.   It is launched from a basic pedestal platform with a fallback umbilical using minimal support equipment.  Possible launch sites include Vandenberg AFB SLC 567E and SLC 8 (the California Launch Facility); Wallops Island, Virginia; Cape Canaveral SLC 46; and Kodiak Island, Alaska. 


 

 

Vehicle Configurations

  LEO
Payload
(metric tons)
185 km x
28 deg		 LEO Payload
(metric tons)
740 km x 98 deg		 Configuration LIftoff
Height
(meters)		 Liftoff
Mass
(metric tons)
Minotaur 0.640 t 0.340 t M55 + SR19 + Orion50XL + Orion38 19.21 m 36.2 t

 

Vehicle Components

  Stg 1
(M55)		 Stg 2
(SR19)
 Stg 3
(Orion50) 		Stg 4
(Orion38)		 Payload
Fairing
Diameter (m) 1.67 m 1.33 m 1.27 m 0.97 m 1.27 m
Length (m) 7.49 m 4.12 m 3.58 m 2.08 m 3.78 m
Propellant Mass (tonnes) 20.785 t 6.237 t 3.915 t 0.782 t  
Empty Mass (tonnes) 2.292 t 0.795 t 0.416 t 0.203 t  
Total Mass (tonnes) 23.077 t 7.032 t 4.331 t 0.985 t ~0.3 t
Engine M55 SR19 Orion50 Orion38  
Engine Mfgr  
     
Fuel Solid Solid
 Solid Solid  
Oxidizer  
     
Thrust
(SL tons)		  
     
Thrust
(Vac tons)		 80.7 t 27.3 t 15.653 t 3.525 t  
ISP (SL sec) 237 s
     
ISP (Vac sec) 262 s 288 s 290 s 293 s  
Burn Time (sec) 60 s 66 s 73 s 65 s  
No. Engines 1 1 1 1   
Example Launch Timeline
400 nmi x 98.4 deg Sun Synchronous Orbit from Vandenberg 
===================================================
Event                 Time   Altitude  Velocity
                      (sec)  (nmi)     (ft/sec)
----------------------------------------------------
S1 Start               0.0     0.0         0
S1 Sep/S2 Start       60.9    16.4     4,841
S2 Skirt Sep          80.9    27.8     5,950
Fairing Sep          118.3    53.6     9,109
S2 Sep               125.8    59.5     9,622
S3 Start             127.9    61.1     9,590
S3 Burnout           199.8   130.6    18,703
S3 Sep               604.1   396.3    16,136
S4 Start             615.1   397.5    16.124
S4 Burnout           684.6   400.0    24,852
Payload Sep          744.6   400.0    24,852
==================================================

References

Minotaur Users Guide, Orbital Sciences, October 2004

 Last Update:  October 23, 2006