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 December, 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
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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
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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
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Falcon 9
Go
16 hours, 50 minutes ago
TRACERS
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

NASA's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, consisting of two identical satellites that will orb…


Falcon 9
Go
1 day, 13 hours ago
O3b mPower 9-10
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

2 high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by SES.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 7 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-3
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Project Kuiper (KF-01)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

First of a three launches contract for Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation, with 24 satellites on board.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 15-2
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.