Minotaur IV

Expendable launch system.

- Type: Orbital heavy-lift launch vehicle.

- Origin : United states.

- Manufacturer: Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.

- In service : 22 April 2010 - Active.

- Mass : 86,300 kg.

- Length/Height : 23.88 metres (78.3 ft).

- Diameter : 2.34 metres (7 ft 8 in).

- Payload to LEO : 1735 kg (28.5°, 185 km).

- Propellant: Solid.

- Engines: First stage: 1 x Solid SR-118 with thrust of 2,200 kilonewtons (490,000 lbf). Second stage : 1 x Solid SR-119 with thrust of 1,365 kilonewtons (307,000 lbf). Third stage : 1 x Solid SR-120 with thrust of 329 kilonewtons (74,000 lbf). Fourth stage(Baseline : 1 x Solid Orion 38 with thrust of 32.2 kilonewtons (7,200 lbf)).

The Minotaur IV vehicle consists of four stages and is capable of placing 1,735 kilograms (3,825 lb) of payload into a Low Earth orbit (LEO). It uses the first three stages of the Peacekeeper missile, combined with a new upper stage. On the baseline version, the fourth stage is an Orion 38. However a higher performance variant, designated Minotaur IV+, uses a Star-48V instead. A three-stage configuration (no Orion 38), designated the Minotaur IV Lite, is available for suborbital trajectories. The Minotaur IV has also been flown with multiple upper stages. A five-stage derivative, the Minotaur V, made its maiden flight on 7 September 2013.

Minotaur IV launches are conducted from SLC-8 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, LP-0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, SLC-46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska Pad 1 of the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska (PSCA).