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Launch Complex: SLC8.
Vandenberg. Old Name: SLF. Latitude: 34.5762 deg. Longitude: -120.6324 deg. Used by: Minotaur. First Launch: 2000-01-27. Last Launch: 2006-04-15. Number Launches: 5. Commercial Space Launch Facility, California Spaceport

SLC8 Chronology

2000 January 27 - 03:03 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 1 JAWSAT Mass: 64 kg (141 lb). Spacecraft: JAWSAT. Agency: Weber St. Perigee: 753 km (468 mi). Apogee: 805 km (501 mi). Inclination: 100.20 deg. Period: 100.36 min. Joint USAF Academy/Weber State Satellite. Payloads included a plasma experiment, a particle detector, and a technology test.

2000 July 19 - 20:09 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 2 Mightysat 2.1 Mass: 120 kg (260 lb). Spacecraft: SA-200. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 547 km (340 mi). Apogee: 581 km (361 mi). Inclination: 97.78 deg. Period: 95.86 min. Mightysat 2.1, also known as Sindri, used a Spectrum Astro SA-200B satellite bus. The spacecraft carried a hyperspectral imager for earth imaging and spectroscopy, as well as satellite technology experiments such as advanced solar arrays. An Aerospace Corp./DARPA picosatellite experiment, consisting of two small boxes connected by a deployable tether, was deployed later. Similar picosats were deployed on the previous Minotaur launch in January 2000.

2005 April 11 - 13:35 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 3 USA 165 Mass: 145 kg (319 lb). Spacecraft: XSS. Agency: USAF Research Laboratory. Perigee: 840 km (520 mi). Apogee: 872 km (541 mi). Inclination: 98.80 deg. Period: 102.10 min. Delayed from November 9, 2004; January 19, March 18, 2005. Military Autonomous Rendezvous Technology. It tested navigation technologies for rendezvous that directly measured relative position to the target satellite. It was have to rendezvoused with several defunct American satellites. However it was only known to have conducted operations with its own Minotaur upper stage

2005 September 23 - 02:24 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 4 USA 185 Mass: 417 kg (919 lb). Agency: DARPA. Perigee: 295 km (183 mi). Apogee: 318 km (197 mi). Inclination: 96.30 deg. Period: 90.70 min. Delayed from May, June, July, 2005. Classified research satellite, said to carry instruments to characterise the space environment in a sun-synchronous orbit.

2006 April 15 - 01:40 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 5 Formosat 3A Mass: 70 kg (154 lb). Spacecraft: MicroStar. Agency: NSPO. Perigee: 496 km (308 mi). Apogee: 538 km (334 mi). Inclination: 72.00 deg. Period: 95.00 min. FORMOSAT-3 consisted of six small 62 kg Orbcomm-type satellites with GPS receivers which were to measure atmospheric conditions by studying the effect of the atmosphere on GPS satellite signals passing through it. The satellites, also known as COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate), would eventually be positioned in equally spaced orbit planes at around 800 km altitude.


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