Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch its second Minotaur on Wednesday, using the innovative hybrid rocket to transport the Air Forces MightySat 2.1 satellite and its package of experiments into Earth orbit.

The rocket formally known as the Orbital Suborbital Programs Space Launch Vehicle 2 is set for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California during an 86-minute window that opens at 4:09 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (20:09 GMT), on Wednesday.

The flight will also be the second for the Minotaur since its inaugural launch in January, also from the oceanside base on Californias central coast. (A suborbital version was successfully launched in May.)

The rocket equivalent of a sword banged into a plowshare, the Minotaur is as much a hybrid as its namesake, the half-man, half-bull creature of ancient Greek mythology.

The Minotaurs first and second stages are from a decommissioned Minuteman 2 intercontinental ballistic missile; its third and fourth stages, as well as its guidance and control system, come from Orbitals commercial Pegasus XL rocket.

The goal of the Orbital-run program is to develop a low-cost launch vehicle that the Air Force can rely upon to deliver small satellites such as the 263-pound (118-kilogram) MightySat 2.1 into orbit.

The solid-state instrument, which has never flown in space, will image the ground at 100-foot (30-meter) resolution, about the same as the Landsat 7 satellite. Unlike Landsat, however, the FTHSI will look in hundreds of bands, providing vastly better spectral resolution.

"Is there additional information that youre not seeing in Landsat because of its limited bands? We dont know what the right answer is," Caudill said. "Its an exploration whether there is some utility in this process."

MightySat 2.1 will also carry the following experiments, much of which are geared to miniaturizing satellite components and technologies:

• Solar-Array Concentrator: The experiment uses relatively inexpensive lenses to focus the suns rays on each cell in the satellites solar arrays, reducing the number, mass and cost of cells needed to produce the same amount of power. A similar technology is currently flying on NASAs Deep Space 1 experimental mission.
• Naval Research Laboratory Miniature Space-Ground Link System Transponder -- a tiny satellite communications unit that is about 70-percent lighter and smaller than commercially available versions.
• Multi-Functional Composite Bus Structure: The actual structure of the satellite is an experiment in itself, designed in part to maintain the thermal balance between the spacecrafts electronics and space.
• Quad-C40 processor: "An on-board Pentium," the computer will process and compress the vast amounts of data collected by the hyperspectral imager, boosting the number of useful images downlinked to ground stations.
• Shape-Memory Alloy Thermal Tailoring Experiment: A follow-on to an experiment that flew on the first MightySat mission, it will demonstrate the feasibility of changing a structures shape at will while in orbit. Similar materials could be used to make antennas with horns that could morph on command, eliminating the need for multiple antennas aboard a satellite.
• Shape-Memory Actuated Release Device: The device is a low-shock method of separating satellites from launch vehicle adapters, or to deploy antennas, solar arrays and sensor covers.
• Solar Array Flexible Interconnect: The device uses copper leads embedded in a flexible, composite film to replace traditional wiring, saving on time, mass and complexity.

Kahn stressed that the slew of experimental instruments is just that: experimental. "The nature of this business is high risk," he said. "If an experiment doesnt work, its an experiment."