U S Air Force Titan II launches Coriolis 01-06-2003
The $224 million Coriolis mission carries the Navy's Windsat microwave polarimetric radiometer and the Air Force's Solar Mass Ejection Imager.
The Windsat payload aims to gather wind speed and direction measurements at or near the surface of Earth's seas. Such information promises to benefit the Navy's planning of operations and improve weather forecasting. The Titan 2 used in Monday's launch was one of 14 ICBMs converted by Lockheed Martin to serve as a space launch vehicle. It stood in an underground silo, topped with a 9.6 megaton nuclear warhead, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona from 1967 to 1982. Originally slated for December 15, the launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base was scrubbed four straight days last year by persistent bad weather, a concern with the system used to deploy the satellite from the rocket and a software issue with the spacecraft. A fifth attempt Sunday was thwarted by unfavorable high-altitude winds.
But the sixth time was the proverbial charm for the Air Force and Lockheed Martin launch team as a smooth countdown culminated with liftoff at 1419 GMT (9:19 a.m. EST; 6:19 a.m. PST).
Lockheed Martin U S Air Force Titan II launches Coriolis from VAFB. CA. 01-06-2003.
Lockheed Martin U S Air Force Titan II launches Coriolis from VAFB. CA. 01-06-2003. The Coriolis satellite is a Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Earth and space observation satellite
The $224 million Coriolis mission carries the Navy's Windsat microwave polarimetric radiometer and the Air Force's Solar Mass Ejection Imager.
The Windsat payload aims to gather wind speed and direction measurements at or near the surface of Earth's seas. Such information promises to benefit the Navy's planning of operations and improve weather forecasting. The Titan 2 used in Monday's launch was one of 14 ICBMs converted by Lockheed Martin to serve as a space launch vehicle. It stood in an underground silo, topped with a 9.6 megaton nuclear warhead, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona from 1967 to 1982. Originally slated for December 15, the launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base was scrubbed four straight days last year by persistent bad weather, a concern with the system used to deploy the satellite from the rocket and a software issue with the spacecraft. A fifth attempt Sunday was thwarted by unfavorable high-altitude winds.
But the sixth time was the proverbial charm for the Air Force and Lockheed Martin launch team as a smooth countdown culminated with liftoff at 1419 GMT (9:19 a.m. EST; 6:19 a.m. PST).
