Please accept our Best Wishes for Mother and Child.
0
A new Minotaur launch vehicle derived from retired missile parts successfully blasted off from the California coast Thursday, but officials lost contact with a hypersonic glider testbed for a U.S. military quick-response global strike system.
The Minotaur 4 booster, flying in a downsized three-stage configuration, launched on a suborbital mission at 4 p.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT; 2300 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The three-stage version of the launcher uses retired Peacekeeper missile motors. The configuration is called the Minotaur 4 Lite.
A small winged glider designed by Pentagon researchers was the payload for Thursday's launch. The craft, called the Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2a, apparently did not complete all of its planned maneuvers to demonstrate new hypersonic flight systems.
"Preliminary review of technical data indicates the Minotaur Lite launch system successfully delivered the Falcon HTV 2 glide vehicle to the desired separation conditions," the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said in a statement. "The launch vehicle executed first of its kind energy management maneuvers, clamshell payload fairing release and HTV 2 deployment."
Thursday's launch was a key milestone before the Air Force can begin flying a building backlog of delayed satellites.
The Air Force and Orbital Sciences Corp. will add an Orion 38 fourth stage motor to the Minotaur for satellite launches beginning as early as July 8. The Minotaur 4 rocket is a more powerful model than the similar Minotaur 1 booster, which has launched military payloads eight times using decommissioned Minuteman missile components.
The Minotaur 4 rocket can launch up to 3,800 pounds of payload to low Earth orbit, according to the Air Force.
The $800 million Space Based Space Surveillance satellite will soon be shipped to Vandenberg for the July flight.
Source
