General performance, Mission profiles, Launch sites – Orbital Minotaur VI User Manual
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Minotaur IV • V • VI User’s Guide
Section 3.0 – General Performance
3. GENERAL PERFORMANCE
3.1. Mission Profiles
Minotaur IV family of Launch Vehicles can attain a range of posigrade and retrograde inclinations through
the choice of launch sites made available by the readily adaptable nature of the Minotaur launch system.
A generic mission profile to a sun-synchronous orbit is shown in Figure 3.1-1. All performance parameters
presented within this User’s Guide are typical for most expected payloads. However, performance may
vary depending on unique payload or mission characteristics. Specific requirements for a particular
mission should be coordinated with OSP. Once a mission is formally initiated, the requirements will be
documented in the Mission Requirements Document (MRD). Further detail will be captured in the
Payload-to-Launch Vehicle Interface Control Document (ICD).
Figure 3.1-1. Generic Minotaur IV Mission Profile
3.2. Launch Sites
Depending on the specific mission, Minotaur vehicles can operate from East and West Coast launch sites
as shown in Figure 3.2-1. The corresponding range inclination capabilities are shown in Figure 3.2-2.
Specific Minotaur vehicle
performance
parameters within those launch inclination ranges
are presented in Section 3.3. Per OSP-3 contract
requirements, baseline launch sites were
established and are shown in Table 3.2-1.
Table 3.2-1. Baseline Launch Sites for the
Minotaur IV Family of Launch Vehicles
Launch Vehicle
Baseline Launch Site
Minotaur IV/IV+
VAFB
Minotaur V
WFF
Minotaur VI/VI+
KLC
Release 2.0
June 2013
17