Minotaur Launches

Flyaway

Flyaway

ACCESS: USAP
Senior Member
Joined
21 January 2015
Messages
12,162
Reaction score
16,380

 
View: https://twitter.com/natreconofc/status/1283009340052369409


Check out these awesome photos of #NROL129! We're set to launch aboard a @northropgrumman #MinotaurIV rocket tomorrow from @NASA_Wallops
Click to expand...

View: https://twitter.com/AF_SMC/status/1283144475351498752?s=20
 
View: https://twitter.com/zshauladventure/status/1283484757804879872


My 2 favorite pics from today's @NatReconOfc Minotaur IV launch with the first @SpaceForceDoD mission from @NASA_Wallops
The #MinotaurIV breaking the sound barrier and it sitting just as the sun started rising
Click to expand...
 
Thread title changed as this is flying on a Minotaur I.

View: https://twitter.com/NatReconOfc/status/1394360805945184260

View: https://twitter.com/NatReconOfc/status/1397261403078205444
 
View: https://twitter.com/natreconofc/status/1399773021297168386


LAUNCH UPDATE: Our #NROL111 mission launch is targeting NET June 15, between 6:30-11:30 a.m. EDT on a @northropgrumman #Minotaur rocket from @VCSFA_MARS Pad 0B at @NASA_Wallops. #VASpace @USSF_SMC : Photo Credit NASA Wallops
Click to expand...
 
The above wasn’t apparently an image of this launch. This is the first image.

View: https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1403005763325284354?s=19

This press release from NASA states there will be three payloads on the launch for the NRO.

Watch the June 15 Minotaur 1 Launch from Wallops

Get up early June 15, grab a cup of coffee and watch the rise of Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur 1 rocket as it’s launched into space from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
www.nasa.gov
 

Minotaur II+ rocket explodes seconds after liftoff from Vandenberg SFB

The planned launch of the Minotaur II+ rocket ended in failure after an explosion late Wednesday night.
www.ksby.com
View: https://twitter.com/ameliairheart/status/1545048859570610176
 
Thread for the USSF-261S-A launch with the EWS-I 1 satellite NET May 2025 aboard Minotaur IV

Space Systems Command Awards $45.5M Launch Service Order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation for Prototype EWS Mission

May 25, 2023

The U.S. Space Force’s Small Launch and Targets Division’s Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, part of the Space Systems Command (SSC) Assured Access to Space organization, awarded a $45.5 million task order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on May 24 via an Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The contract will provide orbital launch services for the SSC Space Sensing Directorate’s latest spacecraft innovation, the Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) prototype, known as EWS Operational Demonstration-1, for a U.S. Space Force mission designated as USSF-261S-A. The EWS prototype will prove out new EO/IR sensor technology to provide operational quality data to the DoD weather community and inform development of a more cost-effective and proliferated operational architecture. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation will accomplish one launch of its Minotaur IV rocket to deliver the prototype satellite to low earth orbit. The launch of EWS Operational Demonstration-1 on USSF-261S-A is planned for May 2025

[...]
Click to expand...

Northrop Grumman wins $45 million Space Force contract to launch small weather satellite

The company’s Minotaur 4 rocket will launch the Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System

May 25, 2023

Northrop Grumman won a $45.5 million contract to launch a small weather satellite in 2025, the U.S. Space Force announced May 25.

The company’s Minotaur 4 rocket will launch a payload called Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) prototype that will demonstrate commercial weather imaging technologies for military use. The launch contract was a task order awarded by the U.S. Space Force’s Orbital Services Program-4.

[...]

The EWS weather satellite is a prototype made by General Atomics that will go to low Earth orbit for a three-year demonstration. The mission was designated USSF-261S-A.

[...]
Click to expand...

EWS-I 1 Satellite
 

Minotaur Rocket | Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman integrates, tests and provides space launch services for the Minotaur I, IV, V, VI and C family of rockets.
www.northropgrumman.com

View: https://x.com/northropgrumman/status/1805918938838012161
 
The U.S. Space Force’s Small Launch and Targets Division’s Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, part of Space Systems command’s (SSC) Assured Access to Space (AATS) organization, awarded a $29.9 million task order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on Sept. 30, 2022, for the Space Test Program (STP)-S29A launch service. This is the fourth task order under the Orbital Services Program-4 (OSP-4) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. STP-S29A is a complex mission that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation’s Minotaur IV launch vehicle will deliver up to 200kg of STP cubesats, with specific payloads finalized during task order performance, to low earth orbit with a planned launch date in Sept. 2024.
Click to expand...

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Lightsheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation (LARADO) instrument was successfully integrated and tested on the Space Test Program Satellite 7 (STPSat-7) spacecraft at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, on July 17, 2024.
Click to expand...

The spacecraft is scheduled for launch on a Department of Defense (DOD) STP sponsored flight out of Vandenberg Space Force Base, in September 2025, on a Minotaur IV launch vehicle.
Click to expand...

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-naval-laboratory-larado-instrument-lethal.html [Aug 30]
 
I wonder if the loss of OCO/GLORY encouraged Elon towards vertical integration (not vertical integration of an LV stack which is rare for SpaceX)

After failed space flights, NASA investigation leads to Portland

A NASA-led investigation into the catastrophic failure of two space flights has led to Portland and to the Northeast Portland operations of Sapa Extrusions, a large multi-national aluminum supplier. Last week, a former lab manager at Sapa pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, admitting that...
www.oregonlive.com

That company supplied defective fairing-separation parts to these guys

Ensign-Bickford Company - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

They still do work for Minotaur?
 
publiusr said:
I wonder if the loss of OCO/GLORY encouraged Elon towards vertical integration (not vertical integration of an LV stack which is rare for SpaceX)

After failed space flights, NASA investigation leads to Portland

A NASA-led investigation into the catastrophic failure of two space flights has led to Portland and to the Northeast Portland operations of Sapa Extrusions, a large multi-national aluminum supplier. Last week, a former lab manager at Sapa pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, admitting that...
www.oregonlive.com
Click to expand...
no, Falcon development and Musk's philosophies started in the early 2000's before this.
 
Yesterday, NRO Director Dr. Chris Scolese mentioned upcoming launches…bet you didn’t guess that meant 3 in 1 week!

GO NROL-192, NROL-174, & NROL-145! Stay tuned for more updates.

Watch Dr. Scolese's full remarks here: https://nro.gov/news-media-featured...ull-potential-of-cutting-edge-space-capabili/
Click to expand...

View: https://twitter.com/NatReconOfc/status/1910032516070732143

NRO Mission Page: https://www.nro.gov/Launches/launch-nrol-174/

NRO Press Kit: https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/Doc...417_Press Kit book_Launch_NROL-174_4.9.25.pdf
Mentions "multiple payloads":
NROL-174 is a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) mission consisting of multiple national security payloads designed, built, and operated by the NRO.
Click to expand...
 
View: https://twitter.com/NatReconOfc/status/1911932450315399222


LAUNCH UPDATE: NRO & @USSF_SSC are scheduled to launch NROL-174 on a @northropgrumman Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base NET 3:33 p.m. EDT April 16.

This will be the first Minotaur IV to launch from Vandenberg since 2011!
Click to expand...
 


Write your reply...

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom