Commericalizing Minotaur (aka Minuteman II ICBM)

[fredinno]

http://spacenews.com/hyten-tries-to-find-sweet-spot-on-surplus-icbm-issue/

Quote

The head of Air Force Space Command said U.S. launch companies should be able to buy rocket motors from decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles to power commercial launches, but at a price that would not put the rest of the commercial small launch industry at a disadvantage.

Current U.S. policy says that launch companies cannot use the rocket motors to launch commercial satellites and can only use them for national security missions in certain instances.

Quote

Orbital ATK, which uses ICBM solid rocket motors for its Minotaur 4 launch vehicle to carry payloads weighing between 500 and 2,000 kilograms, says lifting the commercial ban on surplus  ICBMs would allow it to compete for missions that might otherwise go to Russian rockets and other cheap foreign launchers.

But other small launch ventures, notably Virgin Galactic, which is developing its LauncherOne vehicle for payloads around 200 kilograms, say lifting the ban would give Orbital ATK an unfair advantage. A consortium of eight small launch companies calling themselves the Next-Generation Launch Coalition, wrote the Senate Armed Services Committee in March to oppose any change in current law.

I think lifting the ban is essential. Minotaur 1 and 2 rockets (along with 3-6) are generally very cheap due to huge leftover stockpiles and are already technically paid for. It would be a waste not to use them.

[todofwar]

Agreed. Orbital might be able to get a temporary edge, but if they turn that into more RnD it's overall beneficial. 

[Basto]

They are already paid for by the taxpayers. So if they want to sell them for what we paid then by all means sell them. But I suspect ATK is looking for a steep discount and a quick payday. 

[wumpus]

2 hours ago, Basto said:

They are already paid for by the taxpayers. So if they want to sell them for what we paid then by all means sell them. But I suspect ATK is looking for a steep discount and a quick payday. 

I'm really wondering where you think you can sell gear that you replaced due to being "too old" for what you originally paid for it.  Of course ATK is looking for a steep discount, but I suspect that they would be willing to bid against ULA if necessary.  ULA simply wants to block competition from existing by only lobbying (lobbying DoD/Congress is their primary skill.  Space-X and Soyuz might try to block them as well, but their lobbying [in the US] is pretty much a joke).

[Kryten]

This is not relevant to ULA, Minotaur is nowhere near EELV class.

[Basto]

9 minutes ago, wumpus said:

I'm really wondering where you think you can sell gear that you replaced due to being "too old" for what you originally paid for it.  Of course ATK is looking for a steep discount, but I suspect that they would be willing to bid against ULA if necessary.  ULA simply wants to block competition from existing by only lobbying (lobbying DoD/Congress is their primary skill.  Space-X and Soyuz might try to block them as well, but their lobbying [in the US] is pretty much a joke).

This is not old gear that was replaced. These are launch vehicles that were never used (thankfully). 

 

[Kryten]

Selling ICBMs for purchase price as launch vehicles is going to be a complete non-starter, because they include expensive systems like extremely high-precision IMU's that aren't relevant to LV operations. Besides, if they aren't used for this they aren't going to be sent to army surplus stores; they're going to have the motors expended and be scrapped. This is the only way to extract significant value from them, and will stimulate the US economy in general and the smallsat sector in particular along with it.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Kryten