Minotaur Launches

The above wasn’t apparently an image of this launch. This is the first image.

View: https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1403005763325284354?s=19

This press release from NASA states there will be three payloads on the launch for the NRO.

 
Thread for the USSF-261S-A launch with the EWS-I 1 satellite NET May 2025 aboard Minotaur IV

Space Systems Command Awards $45.5M Launch Service Order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation for Prototype EWS Mission

May 25, 2023

The U.S. Space Force’s Small Launch and Targets Division’s Office at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, part of the Space Systems Command (SSC) Assured Access to Space organization, awarded a $45.5 million task order to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on May 24 via an Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The contract will provide orbital launch services for the SSC Space Sensing Directorate’s latest spacecraft innovation, the Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) prototype, known as EWS Operational Demonstration-1, for a U.S. Space Force mission designated as USSF-261S-A. The EWS prototype will prove out new EO/IR sensor technology to provide operational quality data to the DoD weather community and inform development of a more cost-effective and proliferated operational architecture. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation will accomplish one launch of its Minotaur IV rocket to deliver the prototype satellite to low earth orbit. The launch of EWS Operational Demonstration-1 on USSF-261S-A is planned for May 2025

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Northrop Grumman wins $45 million Space Force contract to launch small weather satellite

The company’s Minotaur 4 rocket will launch the Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System

May 25, 2023

Northrop Grumman won a $45.5 million contract to launch a small weather satellite in 2025, the U.S. Space Force announced May 25.

The company’s Minotaur 4 rocket will launch a payload called Electro-Optical Infrared (EO/IR) Weather System (EWS) prototype that will demonstrate commercial weather imaging technologies for military use. The launch contract was a task order awarded by the U.S. Space Force’s Orbital Services Program-4.

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The EWS weather satellite is a prototype made by General Atomics that will go to low Earth orbit for a three-year demonstration. The mission was designated USSF-261S-A.

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EWS-I 1 Satellite
 
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