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Coriolis

Catalogued as CORIOLIS

Solar Wind Monitoring · US Navy / US Air Force

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A joint US Navy and Air Force satellite with an unusual mission: providing the world's only space-based measurements of solar wind directly arriving at Earth. Its SMEI instrument scans the entire sky every 102 minutes to detect solar storms — coronal mass ejections — before they hit. This gives forecasters up to three days advance warning before a geomagnetic storm could disrupt power grids, satellites, and GPS.

Its orbit

Orbit
Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
Altitude
510–521 mi (820–839 km)
Inclination
98.7°
One orbit
101.4 minutes14.2 orbits a day
NORAD ID
27640
Int’l designator
2003-001A
Launched
2003

Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.

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