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 | EWS OD-1

Orbital ATK | United States of America
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
TBD May, 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
Explore Share

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
Explore Share

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
Explore Share

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
Explore Share

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
Explore Share

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.


Explore Share

Ceres-1S
Success
20 hours, 6 minutes ago
Tianqi 16-18 & 20
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

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


PSLV-XL
Failure
2 days, 3 hours ago
EOS-09 (RISAT-1B)
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

RISAT-1B is the third in the series of radar imaging RISAT-1 satellites of ISRO using an active C-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), providing all-…


Electron
Success
2 days, 19 hours ago
The Sea God Sees (iQPS Launch 2)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.


Zhuque-2E
Success
2 days, 23 hours ago
6 satellites
Launch Area 96 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

6 satellites from satellite manufacturer SpaceTY, including 3 multi-spectral Earth observation satellites and 3 technology demonstration satellites f…


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-5
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.