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Minotaur Pack August 29 2023 - First Release Join The Discord For More Updates: Join Our Discord Community! A Pack w/ all Minotaur Family: M1, M4, MC. Note: this mod is still in development. So there will probably be some bugs an things that will change in the future Please report bugs no our Discord Server in the #help-center and use @KSPMOD Bug Report DOWNLOADs: SPACE DOCK --- or --- GitHub ------------------------------------------------------- INSTALL Download the Mod. Open the .Zip file. Past the MinotaurPack Folder to your GameData within your KSP Folder (Directory/path) Play the game and Enjoy! This Release includes: All Parts to make an amazing Minotaur IV! Craft File! Planned: Minotaur C Launch Platform Base Minotaur I Minotaur III Minotaur V Minotaur Light DARPA Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2 ( HTV-2) Dependencies: No Current needed, but highly recommended to install: Kerbal Joint Reinforcement Recommended mods: Tundra Space Center (TSC) by @damonvv KSC Extended by @JadeOfMaar Katniss's Cape Canaveral by @Katniss218 B9PartSwitch by @blowfish Waterfall by @Nertea Module Manager by @sarbian In-Game Screenshots: LICENCE: Screenshots (Dev) Minotaur Videos: Spatial thanks to @AdrianDogmeat for the amazing photos, and for all of your support! Check All of My KSP Mods here

Should Orbital ATK replace Pegasus with Minotaur I? http://spacenews.com/demise-gems-may-cost-orbital-150-jobs-doom-pegasus http://innerspace.net/current-launch-vehicles/pegasus-launch-cost-soars-to-55-million/ http://spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/ors3/131119launch/#.Vmu8aUZxSrk One thing that I wondered about is why Orbital kept using the air-launched Pegasus once it gained the ability to use Minuteman rockets for space launches in 2000. Though air-launch has its advantages, such as being able to launch to any orbit much more easily, Pegasus has become FAR more expensive (55 MILLION per launch), as its launch rate has shrunk to once a year, compared to Minotaur 1's $28.8 million (including the rocket AND the payload), and can launch about 100 kg less than its ICBM-derived counterpart. Currently, both are incredibly expensive, but if operating costs are kept down by eliminating Pegasus infrastructure, and increasing the launch rate for the Minotaur (which should already be theoretically very low since 1. Uses mainly already-built stages 2. Uses ICBM stages that have large leftover stockpiles (Minuteman II) 3. USAF will dump about a good number of very similar Minuteman III ICBM (apparently 830 of these things were built, with about 100 or so launched). OrbitalATK would probably actually have a good thumb in the future cubesat market if it made the right choices with Minotaur I. One would wonder why Orbital hasn't replaced Pegasus already. There is one rebuttal I've found: According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_%28rocket%29#Related_projects "Due to the use of surplus military rocket motors, it is only used for US Government and government-sponsored payloads." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur_IV#STP-S26 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepr-1 I would think this is just something the author might have just made up, since Minotaur IV launched things like FASTRAC-A (granted, it is a nanosatellite) and the also ICBM-derived Denpr-1 launches commercial satellites (granted, it's foreign). If this is the case, it really begs the question of how launching commercial satellites on ICBMs is a bad idea. How would the use of surplus ICBM motors be bad for defense? Does the DOD expect a spy payload to hitchhike a ride on a commercial satellite, and determine the properties of the rocket it is riding on (while still being useful for the enemy)? One last note is that OrbitalATK considered retiring Pegasus, but decided to hold out. Let's hope they do it sooner than later- Pegasus seems like a bad asset at this point to keep hold onto.