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Minotaur VI
Minotaur VI is a proposed expendable launch system derived from the LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is a member of the Minotaur rocket family and a higher-performance derivative of the Minotaur IV. The base Minotaur VI consists of a Minotaur IV+ rocket with an additional SR118 first stage motor for improved performance. Minotaur VI is optimized for low Earth orbit (LEO) missions, and can send to such an orbit. The Minotaur VI+ variant, however, features a Star 37FM sixth stage and is primarily intended for higher-energy missions. The Minotaur VI and VI+ rockets are capable of launching from LP-1 at the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska as well as SLC-46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Other Minotaur launch complexes, including Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 8 and MARS LP-0B, are unable to launch the vehicle without modifications because of limited integration tower height. As of May 2024, no Minotaur VI launches have been performed and none are currently scheduled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry, weapons manufacturers and military technology providers. Formed in 1994 through Northrop Corporation's purchase of Grumman Aerospace, Northrop Grumman ranked as the List of defense contractors, third-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2022. The firm ranked on the 2022 Fortune 500, ''Fortune'' 500 list of America's largest corporations. Northrop Grumman and its industry partners have won the Collier Trophy nine times, most recently for the development and production of the James Webb Space Telescope, an Space telescope, orbiting observatory launched in 2021. Northrop Grumman leads the development of the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, B-21 Raider, a long-range, stealth aircraft, stealth strategic bomber that can drop conv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star 48
The Star 48 is the largest of a family of solid rocket motors used by many space propulsion and launch vehicle stages, almost exclusively as an upper stage. It was developed primarily by Thiokol Propulsion and after several mergers, is manufactured by Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems division. A Star 48B stage is also one of the few man-made items sent on escape trajectories out of the Solar System, although it is derelict since its use. The Star 48B variant was the PAM-D upper stage used on the retired Delta II rocket. The Star 48 has been used as an upper stage in three- and four-stage launch systems. Overview The "48" designation refers to the approximate diameter of the fuel casing in inches (122 cm); Thiokol had also manufactured other motors such as the Star 37 and Star 30. Internally, Thiokol's designation was TE-M-711 for early versions and TE-M-799 for later ones. Subtypes are given one or more letter suffixes after the diameter number, or a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conventional weapon, Conventional, Chemical weapon, chemical, and Biological agent, biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The Nuclear weapons of the United States, United States, Russia and weapons of mass destruction, Russia, China and weapons of mass destruction, China, France and weapons of mass destruction, France, India and weapons of mass destruction, India, the United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction, United Kingdom, Nuclear weapons and Israel, Israel, and North Korea and weapons of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans-lunar Injection
A trans-lunar injection (TLI) is a propulsive maneuver, which is used to send a spacecraft to the Moon. Typical lunar transfer trajectories approximate Hohmann transfers, although low-energy transfers have also been used in some cases, as with the Hiten probe. For short duration missions without significant perturbations from sources outside the Earth-Moon system, a fast Hohmann transfer is typically more practical. A spacecraft performs TLI to begin a lunar transfer from a low circular parking orbit around Earth. The large TLI burn, usually performed by a chemical rocket engine, increases the spacecraft's velocity, changing its orbit from a circular low Earth orbit to a highly eccentric orbit. As the spacecraft begins coasting on the lunar transfer arc, its trajectory approximates an elliptical orbit about the Earth with an apogee near to the radius of the Moon's orbit. The TLI burn is sized and timed to precisely target the Moon as it revolves around the Earth. The bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit (GEO). Satellites that are destined for geosynchronous orbit (GSO) or GEO are often put into a GTO as an intermediate step for reaching their final orbit. Larson, Wiley J. and James R. Wertz, eds. Space Mission Design and Analysis, 2nd Edition. Published jointly by Microcosm, Inc. (Torrance, CA) and Kluwer Academic Publishers (Dordrecht/Boston/London). 1991. Manufacturers of launch vehicles often advertise the amount of payload the vehicle can put into GTO. Background Geostationary and geosynchronous orbits are very desirable for many communication and Earth observation satellites. However, the delta-v, and therefore financial, cost to send a spacecraft to such orbits is very high due to their high orbital radius. A GTO is an intermedia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun-synchronous Orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is an orbit arranged so that it Precession, precesses through one complete revolution each year, so it always maintains the same relationship with the Sun. Applications A Sun-synchronous orbit is useful for imaging satellite, imaging, reconnaissance satellite, reconnaissance, and weather satellites, because every time that the satellite is overhead, the surface illumination angle on the planet underneath it is nearly the same. This consistent lighting is a useful characteristic for satellites that image the Earth's surface in visible or infrared wavelengths, such as weather and spy satellites, and for other remote-sensing satellites, such as those carrying ocean and atmospheric remote-sensing instruments that require sunlight. For example, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orbital Sciences
Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other government customers. In 2014, Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to create a new company called Orbital ATK, which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. Orbital was headquartered in Dulles, Virginia and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol ORB. Orbital's primary products were satellites and launch vehicles, including low Earth orbit (LEO), geosynchronous Earth orbit and planetary spacecraft for communications, remote sensing, scientific and defense missions; ground- and air-launched launch vehicles that delivered satellites into orbit; missile defense systems that were used as interceptor and target vehicles; and human-rated space systems for Earth orbit, lunar and other missions. Orbital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) is a commercial space launch facility located at the southern tip of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and south of Chincoteague, Virginia, United States. It is owned and operated by the Virginia Spaceport Authority. Background The Virginia General Assembly created the political subdivision Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA), also known as Virginia Space, in 1995 to promote the development of the commercial space flight industry, economic development, aerospace research, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education throughout the Commonwealth. This initiative was done from the recommendations of the Batten College at Old Dominion University, with Dr. Billie Reed, a longtime professor at the University, installed as its Executive Director. In 1997, Virginia Space entered into a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 8
Space Launch Complex 8 (SLC-8), is a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, United States. It is currently only used by Minotaur rockets. It was originally part of the California Spaceport and was known as the Commercial Launch Facility (CLF) or Space Launch Facility (SLF). In addition to supporting occasional Minotaur rockets, SLC-8 is capable of hosting small launch vehicles thanks to a new clean pad built in 2019. Much like the Minotaur rocket family itself, SLC-8 has seen little use since the early 2010s. As of April 2025, ten rockets - six Minotaur I and four Minotaur IV - have been launched from SLC-8. Pad description SLC-8 was built in the late 1990s to support Minotaur rockets from Vandenberg, and is the southernmost launch complex at the base. It is the fourth launch site at Vandenberg to support the Minotaur family, after TP-01, SLC-576E, and LF-06. Minotaur launches from SLC-8 are controlled from the Integrated Processing Facility (IPF) at the neig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Low Earth Orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, peaking in number at an altitude around , while the farthest in LEO, before medium Earth orbit (MEO), have an altitude of 2,000 km, about one-third of the Earth radius, radius of Earth and near the beginning of the Van Allen radiation belt#Inner belt, inner Van Allen radiation belt. The term ''LEO region'' is used for the area of space below an altitude of (about one-third of Earth's radius). Objects in orbits that pass through this zone, even if they have an apogee further out or are sub-orbital spaceflight, sub-orbital, are carefully tracked since they present a collision risk to the many LEO satellites. No human spaceflights other than the lunar missions of the Apollo program (1968-1972) have gone beyond L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minotaur IV
Minotaur IV, also known as Peacekeeper SLV and OSP-2 PK is an active expendable launch system derived from the retired LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Space Systems, and made its maiden flight on 22 April 2010 carrying the HTV-2a Hypersonic Test Vehicle. The first orbital launch occurred on 26 September 2010 with the SBSS satellite for the United States Air Force. The Minotaur IV vehicle consists of four stages and is capable of placing of payload into a low Earth orbit (LEO). The first three stages are decommissioned Peacekeeper missile motors. On the baseline Minotaur IV, the fourth stage is an Orion 38. The higher-performance Minotaur IV+ variant instead replaces the Orion motor with a Star 48BV fourth stage. A three-stage configuration (no Orion 38 or Star 48), designated the Minotaur IV Lite, is available for suborbital trajectories. A five-stage derivative, the Minotaur V, made its maiden flight on 7 September 2013. Minotaur IV launc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minotaur (rocket Family)
The Minotaur is a family of United States solid-fuel launch vehicles repurposed from retired Minuteman and Peacekeeper model intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built by Northrop Grumman under the Space Force's Rocket Systems Launch Program, these vehicles are used for various space and test launch missions. The Minotaur family consists of four main variants: the Minotaur I, primarily used for launching small satellites into low Earth orbit; the Minotaur II, primarily used as a suborbital target vehicle; the Minotaur IV, a small-lift launch vehicle; and the Minotaur V, capable of reaching higher orbits, including geostationary transfer orbit and trans-lunar trajectories. Minotaur I and II are derived from the Minuteman missile, while Minotaur IV, V, and the cancelled Minotaur III are based on the Peacekeeper ICBM. Vehicles Minotaur-C (Taurus) The Taurus launch vehicle, later renamed Stephen Clark"Taurus rocket on the market with new name, upgrades" Spaceflight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
