New Minotaur IV Light launches and HTV-2A lost - 2010.04.27

Video from the channel Spacevidcast about Minotaur IV, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 4:10. Language: English. Video type: News.

The April 27, 2010 bulletin reports on the debut of the Minotaur IV Light, a rocket from the U.S. Air Force and Orbital Sciences that lifted off on April 22 at 23:00 UTC on a suborbital flight. Its payload, DARPA's Falcon HTV-2a hypersonic glider, separated as planned, but tracking lost contact with it about nine minutes after liftoff.

The launcher uses solid motors from retired Peacekeeper missiles and a commercial upper stage. Its debut was delayed because a third-stage gas generator produced unwanted thrust after shutdown, forcing a redesign of a diffuser.

With the launcher now flight-proven, the backlog accumulated on military satellites such as SBSS is expected to be cleared; DARPA had not clarified which of the glider's objectives were met.