Coriolis (satellite)

Coriolis
Mission type Earth and Solar observation
Operator NRL, AFRL
COSPAR ID 2003-001A
SATCAT no. 27640Edit this on Wikidata
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass 395 kilograms (871 lb)
Power 1,174 watts
Start of mission
Launch date January 6, 2003, 14:19 (2003-01-06UTC14:19Z) UTC
Rocket Titan II(23)G
Launch site Vandenberg SLC-4W
Orbital parameters
Reference system Geocentric
Regime Low Earth
Eccentricity 0.0013721
Perigee 826 kilometers (513 mi)
Apogee 846 kilometers (526 mi)
Inclination 98.7 degrees
Period 101.5 minutes
Epoch 14 November 2016, 20:52:53 UTC
Instruments
WindSat, SMEI

The Coriolis satellite is a Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Earth and space observation satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, on 2003-01-06 at 14:19 GMT.

Instruments

WINDSAT

WINDSAT is a joint Integrated Program Office/Department of Defense demonstration project, intended to measure ocean surface wind speed and wind direction from space using a polarimetric radiometer. WINDSAT was developed and managed by the Space Test Program at Kirtland AFB NM, designed for a three-year lifetime. It is primarily designed to measure ocean surface wind direction (nonprecipitating conditions) with a 25-km spatial resolution. Secondary measurements are Sea surface temperature, soil moisture, rain rate, ice and snow characteristics and water vapor.

Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI)

The Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) is an instrument intended to detect disturbances in the solar wind by means of imaging scattered light from the free electrons in the plasma of the solar wind. To do this three CCD cameras observe sections of the sky of size 60 by 3 degree.

As the SMEI instrument observers the whole sky, data generated has been used to observe periodic changes in the brightness of stars. This data be used to detect asteroseismological oscillation in giant stars, and for the detection of large eclipsing extra-solar planets.

Image of the Windsat component undergoing testing
  • WINDSAT site at NOAA
  • Ray, Justin. "Coriolis launched to track ocean winds, solar storms". Spaceflight Now.

Bibliography


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