NOTS 4

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Low Earth Orbit Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Air launch to Suborbital flight

The project pilot payloads were small cylindrical satellites. These missions intended to be the first to launch a satellite from an aircraft. They had only a single instrument, a very primitive infrared line scanning device to make IR images of the ground.

Project Pilot

Family:
Configuration:

The NOTS-EV-1 Pilot, also known as NOTSNIK was an expendable launch system and anti-satellite weapon developed by the United States Navy's United States Naval Ordnance Test Station (NOTS).

Specifications
  • Stages
    5
  • Length
    4.4 m
  • Diameter
    0.76 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    0.76 m
  • Launch Mass
  • Thrust
    125.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Project Pilot
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Project Pilot
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

US Navy

US Navy

(USN)

Founded: 1963 Successes: 3 Failures: 15 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

The Navy was competed with the Army to put the first American satellite into orbit. Their first two Vanguard missions failed, with the second being a highly publicized failure, as it exploded on the launchpad. They went on to put 3 satellites into orbit but did not beat the Army to be the first. Their work in space continues today largely on military satellites.

INFO WIKI

Air launch to Suborbital flight

Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake


Long March 3B/E
Failure
11 hours, 56 minutes ago
Shijian 32
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese experimental spacecraft of unknown purposes.


Ceres-1S
Success
1 day, 8 hours ago
Tianqi 37-40
Rizhao offshore launch location - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


Long March 2C
Success
2 days ago
AlSat 3A
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Earth observation satellite built by China's CAST for the Algerian Space Agency.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-98
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 8A
Success
3 days, 13 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 18
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Long March 6A
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Yaogan 50-01
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

The Yaogan 50-01 is a Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 7 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-97
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


PSLV-DL
Failure
5 days ago
EOS-N1 and others
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

Small Earth observation satellite from NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) for an "Indian strategic user", details TBD. This launch will also carry 18 o…


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 15 hours ago
Pandora / Twilight rideshare mission
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

The Pandora small satellite was selected in 2021 as an inaugural mission in NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program. It includes a 0.45-meter telescope …


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 6-96
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.