Minotaur

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation will accomplish one launch of its Minotaur IV rocket to deliver the EWS Operational Demonstration-1 prototype satellite to low Earth orbit.

STP-S29A was awarded to Northrop Grumman with a $29,900,000 task order to launch the mission in September 2024 on a Minotaur 4 small launch vehicle.

Wallops currently hosts two Northrop Grumman Antares launches per year and an occasional Minotaur launch by Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation’s Minotaur IV launch vehicle will deliver up to 200 kg of STP cubesats to low Earth orbit with a planned launch date in Sept. 2024.

The Minotaur 1’s third and fourth stages are commercially produced motors that are also used on the Pegasus XL air-launched rocket.

The Minotaur 1 is a small rocket that can launch payloads up to 580 kg to low Earth orbit.

Northrop Grumman Corporation built and operated the Minotaur I launch vehicle used for the NROL-111 mission.

The NROL-129 mission launched in 2020 on a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket, which is a larger vehicle than the Minotaur 1.

The U.S. Space Force launched a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on 2021-06-15 aboard a Minotaur I rocket at 9:35 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

A Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 four-stage solid fuel rocket launched three National Reconnaissance Office payloads on 2021-06-15 at 9:35 a.m. Eastern from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The Minotaur 1 has completed 12 successful missions since it was introduced in 2000.

A Minotaur 1 launch of a National Reconnaissance Office mission was scheduled to launch from Wallops Island on 2021-06-15.

Another Minotaur launch for the National Reconnaissance Office, NROL-111, is planned for summer 2021 from Wallops.

The Minotaur 4 has launched missions from Wallops Island, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Kodiak Island in Alaska, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Pegasus is Northrop Grumman’s air-launched rocket and, together with Minotaur solid rockets, serves Department of Defense and intelligence agency customers.

The Minotaur 4 can launch payloads of up to 1,730 kg to low Earth orbit.

Surplus rocket motors are shipped from Hill Air Force Base to launch locations where Northrop Grumman assembles the Minotaur rockets.

A Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 solid propellant rocket launched the NROL-129 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on 2020-07-15 at 9:46 a.m. Eastern from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.