Minotaur IV Lite

Minotaur IV-

Mission Profile

The Minotaur IV Lite (Minotaur IV-) was a three-stage American solid-fuelled launch vehicle in the Minuteman family, a reduced variant of the Minotaur IV using Peacekeeper ICBM motors without the fourth stage for lighter orbital payloads. Standing 23.9 m tall with a 1.7 m diameter and a liftoff mass of 36.2 tonnes, it generated 1,600 kN of first-stage thrust and could deliver 1,735 kg to low Earth orbit. First flying in April 2010, the Minotaur IV Lite launched the HTV-2 hypersonic test vehicle for DARPA.