Military Satellite Launched Into Orbit From Vandenberg

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) 1.06.02, 12:15p - - The military launched a satellite early Monday to keep tabs on the weather that affects its ships both at sea and in space and help improve cell phone communications.

The Coriolis satellite lifted off at 6:19 a.m. aboard a Titan II rocket, officials said. Nearly an hour later, officials reported the satellite successfully separated from the booster and was communicating with ground stations on Earth.

The $223.5 million Coriolis mission placed two instruments in orbit, one to watch the winds that buffet Pentagon ships at sea and another to monitor the solar storms that can affect its satellites in space. The mission is expected to last three years.

The Navy's Windsat radiometer is designed to detect wind speed and direction over the world's oceans.

"We're hoping this technology will allow us to accurately observe wind speed and direction in hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones," said Richard Williamson, spokesman for the Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

The Air Force's Solar Mass Ejection Imager will provide early warnings of coronal mass ejections - - massive storms on the sun that can knock out satellites in orbit, as well as communications and power distribution systems on Earth.

"It's real important to know when they're going to hit," Williamson said.