The Athena II is an American small

expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are destroyed during reentry or impact with Earth, or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of s ...

which was used for three launches between 1998 and 1999, and which was scheduled to return to service in 2012 but has not been flown again as of 2024. It is a member of the

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

family of rockets, along with the smaller Athena I. The Athena II is a four-stage rocket, consisting of solid first, second and third stages, and a

monopropellant Monopropellants are propellants consisting of chemicals that release energy through exothermic chemical decomposition. The molecular bond energy of the monopropellant is released usually through use of a catalyst. This can be contrasted with biprop ...

liquid-fueled fourth stage. The first and second stages are Castor 120s, which are also used on some versions of the

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign ** Vṛṣabha, in vedic astrology * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological ch ...

rocket. An Orbus 21D motor was used as the third stage on launches during the 1990s. A planned second generation Athena II launch vehicle will use a

Castor 30 Castor is a family of solid-fuel rocket stages and boosters built by Thiokol (now Northrop Grumman) and used on a variety of launch vehicles. They were initially developed as the second-stage motor of the Scout rocket. The design was based on t ...

third stage which is under currently under development for the Taurus II. The fourth stage is an Orbital Adjustment Module, fueled by

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...

and propelled by four MR-107 engines, which is used for final insertion. Prior to its retirement in 1999, Athena II launches were made from Launch Complex 46 at Spaceport Florida and Space Launch Complex 6 at

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

. LC-46 will also be used for Athena IIc launches, with Launch Pad 0B of the

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, Vi ...

and Pad 1 of the Kodiak Launch Complex also offered. During the 1990s, three Athena II launches were conducted, with one failure. Its maiden flight was conducted from LC-46 at Spaceport Florida, and lifted off at 02:28 GMT on 7 January 1997. The launch, which was the first to take place from Spaceport Florida, successfully placed the

Lunar Prospector ''Lunar Prospector'' was a spacecraft that orbited the Moon for 19 months in 1998-99. From a low polar orbit, it mapped surface composition including lunar hydrogen deposits, measured magnetic and gravity fields, and studied lunar outgassing e ...

spacecraft into orbit for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

. The next Athena II launch took place from SLC-6 at Vandenberg on 27 April 1999, with the

Ikonos IKONOS was a commercial Earth observation satellite, and was the first to collect publicly available high-resolution imagery at 1- and 4-meter resolution. It collected multispectral (MS) and panchromatic (PAN) imagery. The capability to observe ...

satellite for Space Imaging. The launch ended in failure after the

payload fairing A payload fairing or nose fairing is a nose cone used to protect a launch vehicle, spacecraft payload (air and space craft), payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additiona ...

failed to separate, and as a result the rocket had too much mass to achieve orbital velocity. The third launch also took place from SLC-6 at Vandenberg, on 24 September 1999. The payload, Ikonos 1, was also for Space Imaging, and successfully reached orbit.

References

{{US launch systems Space launch vehicles of the United States Lockheed Martin space launch vehicles Alliant Techsystems

See also

References