Farnborough UK -- July 1999 -- GCC-1750 has been selected by Spectrum Astro, Gilbert, AZ,  for the Coriolis program.

Coriolis is a test mission for the flight of two Department of Defense payloads: 1) WindSat, a Navy polarimetric microwave radiometer experiment to passively measure ocean surface wind vector; and 2) a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) to monitor solar activity with the goal of more accurately predicting geomagnetic disturbances to orbiting satellites.  The spacecraft's two payloads will collect data continuously during the three year mission.

The Coriolis spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard a Titan II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, California on December 15, 2001, and is intended for a 98.7 degree, 830 km circular orbit above the Earth.