Energy News  
Orbital Set For Second Minotaur Launch


Vandenberg - July 18, 2000 -
Orbital Sciences said it will o launch the U.S. Air Force's MightySat II satellite and DAPRA's PicoSat aboard a Minotaur rocket on Wednesday, July 19, 2000 between 1:09pm to 2:35pm PDT (2009 to 2135 GMT).

The MightySat II mission represents the second launch of the Minotaur rocket, which successfully delivered 11 small satellites into their targeted orbits on its inaugural flight in January 2000.

Orbital developed the four-stage Minotaur rocket for the Air Force's Orbital/Suborbital Program (OSP) using U.S. Government-supplied Minuteman II motors that have been decommissioned as a result of arms reduction treaties.

The deactivated rocket motors serve as the vehicle's first and second stages. Its third and fourth stages, as well as its guidance and control system, use technology from Orbital's Pegasus XL rocket.

Orbital is under contract to the Air Force to provide integrated Minotaur launch vehicles and to perform launch operations to deliver small military satellites to orbit.

On launch day, the available window for the Minotaur mission extends from 4:09 p.m. to 5:35 p.m. Eastern time, with a targeted launch time of 4:09 p.m. This schedule is subject to the completion of final pre-launch testing, as well as acceptable weather conditions at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California launch site.

The operational sequence for the mission is expected to take about 11 minutes, from the time the Minotaur launcher's first stage engine ignites to the time that the satellite payload is deployed.

The Minotaur rocket is expected to deliver the satellite into a circular, sun-synchronous orbit approximately 297 nautical miles [550 kilometers] above the Earth, inclined at 97.6 degrees to the equator.

The 263-pound [120-kilogram] MightySat II satellite was built by Spectrum Astro, Inc. of Gilbert, Arizona for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

A follow-on to the Orbital-built MightySat I satellite, which was successfully launched from the Space Shuttle in late 1998, MightySat II will provide a space-based platform for demonstrations of advanced AFRL space system technologies such as a solar array concentrator and a Fourier Transform Hyperspectral Imager.

  • Orbital.com
  • MightySat II
  • Minotaur Fact Sheet

    Community
    Email This Article
    Comment On This Article

    Related Links
    Space



    Memory Foam Mattress Review
    Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
    XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


    Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
    Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
    The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.







  • More Reliable Power Sought















  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement