Minotaur I launch. (Credit: NASA)

Orbital Sciences will debut a new variant of its Minotaur small satellite launch vehicle in late 2015 with the launch of six Skybox Imaging satellites, the company announced last week.

“The Minotaur-C rocket will use four solid rocket motors supplied by ATK as its propulsion system, all of which have been flown dozens of times and thoroughly flight-proven in various combinations on Orbital’s other small space launch vehicles, including Pegasus, Taurus and Minotaur, as well as on the company’s Orbital Boost Vehicle (OBV) long-range missile defense interceptor,” the company said in a press release.

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Launch providers in the United States and Europe announced agreements to launch a series of satellites over the coming two years: Arianespace will launch CGS S.p.A’s OPTSAT 3000 and the Israeli Space Agency’s VENµS satellite aboard a Vega launcher in early 2016 from the Guiana Space Center in South America. Read more Skybox Imaging has tapped Orbital Sciences Corp. to launch six Earth observation satellites aboard a Minotaur-C from Vandenberg […]