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Converted Missile Launches Military Satellite to Track Spacecraft (space.com)
schwit1 was the first to share the news about Saturday's successful launch from Cape Canaveral: A satellite designed to help the U.S. military keep tabs on the ever-growing population of orbiting objects took to the skies atop a converted missile early Saturday morning. The Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space-5 (ORS-5) satellite lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:04 a.m. EDT (0604 GMT) atop an Orbital ATK Minotaur IV rocket, which carved a fiery orange arc into the sky as it rose... The first three stages of the Minotaur IV rocket are derived from decommissioned Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles... This morning's launch was the sixth for the Minotaur IV and the 26th overall for the Minotaur rocket family, which also includes the flight-proven Minotaur I, II and V vehicles.
The Orlando Sentinel notes it took place on "a long-dormant launch pad on the Space Coast...Launch Complex 46, which last hosted a rocket launch in 1999..."
The Orlando Sentinel notes it took place on "a long-dormant launch pad on the Space Coast...Launch Complex 46, which last hosted a rocket launch in 1999..."
The Minotaur series consists of various configurations of Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile stages, plus some stages from the Pegasus launch vehicle. All stages are solid rocket motors.
Minotaur I, II and II+ are based on the Minuteman missile. Minotaur I will carry about 600kg to LEO, while II and II+ are both strictly suborbital.
Minotaur III, IV, IV Lite, IV+ and V are based on the Peacekeeper missile. III is designed as the suborbital rocket, and has not yet launched. IV, its derivatives, and V, are orbital rockets of varying capacity. III seems unlikely to fly because there's just not much call for a heavy suborbital rocket. Who would need to put a ton-and-a-half into a half-orbit?
Minotaur C is a mostly a Pegasus rocket, but using the first stage of a Peacekeeper instead of launching from an aircraft. It used to be known as Taurus, but was rebranded after a string of failures. Nobody has yet fallen for it.
It's standard practice to use rockets manufactured to be ICBMs as space launch platforms. Sometimes it's for testing of new rockets, and sometimes it's to use-up rockets that were manufactured at great cost instead of simply scrapping them unflown.
Most Titan launches were of this type, including the Gemini, Pioneer, and Voyager programs.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I don't know the specifics of this mission, but most satellite launches are announced at least a year out, and there's a mandatory NOTAM to clear the flight zone. It was not in any way a surprise.
It also launched from Canaveral, not a missile silo in Montana. And Russia and China have advanced enough tech to distinguish a suborbital missile from an orbital launch pretty quickly - hell, at this point, civilian space fans are usually able to figure out orbital parameters, for those NSA payloads that don't disclose what orbit they're going to.