Minotaur IV

Active

Orbital ATK (OA)

Sept. 26, 2010

Description

The Minotaur IV launch system is derived from the Peacekeeper ICBM. The first three stages are taken directly from decommissioned Peacekeeper missiles. A fourth stage, the Orion-38, is taken from the Pegasus family of air-launched rockets.

Specifications
  • Stages
    4
  • Length
    23.9 m
  • Diameter
    2.35 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    86.0 T
  • Thrust
    2200.0 kN
  • Apogee (Sub-Orbital)
    500.0 km
Family
  • Name
    Minotaur IV
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
    Peacekeeper SLV
  • Full Name
    Minotaur IV
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1735.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Orbital ATK

Commercial
President: David W. Thompson
OA 2015

Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems. Orbital ATK was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018.

Upcoming Spaceflights


Minotaur IV | STP-S29A

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

STP-S29A is a mission under the U.S. Department of Defense's Space Test Program (STP) that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development, with this launch delivering up to 200 kg of STP cubesats to Low Earth Orbit. The main payload will be STPSat-7, an ESPA class satellite based on the Aegis Aerospace M-1 satellite bus used on the STPSat-4 mission for hosting research and technology demonstration payloads for the Department of Defense (DoD). One of the payload is U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Lightsheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation (LARADO) instrument, used to detect and characterize lethal non-trackable orbital debris with lasers in orbit.

Low Earth Orbit
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Minotaur IV | EWS OD-1

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
TBD December, 2025
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

The Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather System (EWS) Operational Demonstration-1 (OD-1) is a weather satellite for the United States Space Force. It is a prototype satellite made by General Atomics that will be place in LEO for a three-year demonstration mission of new EO/IR sensor technologies to various US military branches, and to act as a stop-gap for Defense Department needs for weather data.

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Minotaur IV | NROL-174

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
April 16, 2025, 7:33 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

Unknown
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Minotaur IV | NROL-129

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
July 15, 2020, 1:46 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

Low Earth Orbit
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Minotaur IV | ORS-5

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Aug. 26, 2017, 6:04 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Also known as SensorSat, the Operationally Responsive Space 5 (ORS-5) will perform surveillance on geostationary (GEO) satellites. The craft will provide a stopgap for the existing space based surveillance system (SBSS), since full replacements are not expected until after 2020. With a mass of approximately 100kg the solar powered craft will operate in low earth orbit at an altitude of 600km.

Low Earth Orbit
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Minotaur IV | SBSS (USA-216)

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Sept. 26, 2010, 4:41 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Unknown Mission

There are no mission or payload details available for this launch.


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Falcon 9
Deployed
9 hours, 6 minutes ago
Sirius SXM-10
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

SXM-10 is the 11th high-powered, digital, audio radio satellite built by Maxar (SSL) for SiriusXM. The SXM-10 satellite will be based on Maxar’s prov…


Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 17 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 04
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A batch of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group. …


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 11-22
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 9 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-19
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
Full Stream Ahead (BlackSky Gen-3 2)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

2nd of the BlackSky Gen-3 high resolution Earth-imaging satellites.