Minotaur II

Minotaur II
	Minotaur II launch from Vandenberg
Function	Suborbital launch system
Manufacturer	Orbital Sciences (original); ; Northrop Grumman (current)
Country of origin	United States
Size
Height	19.21 metres (63.0 ft)
Diameter	1.67 metres (5 ft 6 in)
Mass	36,200 kilograms (79,800 lb)
Stages	2 or 3
Capacity
Payload to 8000km S/O
Mass	400 kilograms (880 lb)
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Vandenberg LF-06; Vandenberg TP-01
Total launches	9
Success(es)	8
First flight	28 May 2000
Last flight	7 July 2022
First stage – M55E1
Powered by	1 Solid
Maximum thrust	935 kilonewtons (210,000 lbf)
Propellant	Solid
Second stage – SR19AJ1
Powered by	1 Solid
Maximum thrust	268 kilonewtons (60,000 lbf)
Propellant	Solid
Third stage (Baseline) – M57A1
Powered by	1 Solid
Propellant	Solid
Third stage (Minotaur II+) – SR-73-AJ
Powered by	1 Solid
Propellant	Solid
Third stage (Heavy) – Orion 50XL
Powered by	1 Solid
Maximum thrust	118.2 kilonewtons (26,600 lbf)
Burn time	74 seconds
Propellant	Solid
	[edit on Wikidata]

Minotaur II rockets consist of the M55A1 first stage and SR19AJ1 second stage of a decommissioned Minuteman missile. The third stage varies depending on the configuration required for the payload: a Minuteman II M57A1 stage is used on the baseline configuration, whilst the Minotaur II+ uses an SR-73-AJ. The Minotaur II Lite is a two-stage configuration, without a third stage. A heavy configuration is also available, with an Orion 50XL third stage, as used on the Minotaur I. The baseline configuration can propel a 400 kilograms (880 lb) payload 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) downrange, whilst the heavy configuration can place 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) onto an 8,000-kilometre (5,000 mi) trajectory.

Nine Minotaur II rockets have been launched as of July 2022, with six flights using the baseline configuration and three using the Minotaur II+ configuration. Launches are conducted from Launch Facility 06 (LF-06) and Test Pad 01 (TP-01).

Launch history

Flight No.	Date (UTC)	Rocket	Payload	Launch pad	Trajectory	Result
1	May 28, 2000 20:00	Minotaur II	OSP-TLV Missile Defense Technology Demonstrator	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
2	December 12, 2001	Minotaur II	IFT-7 target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
3	March 16, 2002 02:11	Minotaur II	TLV-1 IFT-8 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
4	October 15, 2002 02:01	Minotaur II	TLV-3 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
5	December 11, 2002 08:26	Minotaur II	TLV-4 GMDS target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
6	March 20, 2007 04:27	Minotaur II	TLV-5 FTX-02 SBR target mission	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
7	August 23, 2007 08:30	Minotaur II+	TLV-7 Mission 2a sensor target for NFIRE satellite	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
8	September 24, 2008 06:57	Minotaur II+	TLV-8 Mission 2b sensor target for NFIRE satellite	Vandenberg LF-06	Suborbital	Success
9	July 7, 2022 06:01^[1]	Minotaur II+	Mk21A reentry vehicle test^[2]^[a]	Vandenberg TP-01	Suborbital	Failure

Notes

^ Reentry vehicle demonstration for the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. Rocket exploded 11 seconds after launch.

References

Krebs, Gunter. "Minotaur-2 (OSP-SLV)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
Krebs, Gunter. "Minuteman Target Launch Vehicles". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-04-28.

^ Scully, Janene (7 July 2022). "Missile Test Ends in Explosion Seconds After Launch from Vandenberg SFB". Noozhawk. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
^ Martinez-Pogue, Jade (6 July 2022). "Test rocket launch scheduled from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday morning". KEYT-TV. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

This rocketry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[3] Reentry vehicle demonstration for the future LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile. Rocket exploded 11 seconds after launch.

[1] Scully, Janene (7 July 2022). "Missile Test Ends in Explosion Seconds After Launch from Vandenberg SFB". Noozhawk. Retrieved 7 July 2022.

[launchfailure-2] Martinez-Pogue, Jade (6 July 2022). "Test rocket launch scheduled from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday morning". KEYT-TV. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

[1]

[2]

[a]

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 RS1^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Orbital launch systems developed in the United States
Active	Atlas V**^†† Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus XL SLS Block 1 Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona I MLV New Glenn Neutron Nova Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Starship Terran R
Retired	Antares 110/120/130/230/230+^††† Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" H-I* Juno I Juno II LauncherOne N-I* N-II* Pilot Rocket 3 RS1^† Saturn I IB V Scout Space Shuttle SPARK Sparta Terran 1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Vanguard
* - Japanese projects using US rockets or stages ** - uses Russian engines ^† - never succeeded ^†† - no new orders accepted ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage