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roswell

Office of the Secretary of Defense · 993 pages · text from the file's own layer

The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert was published in 1995 by Headquarters United States Air Force. It was written in response to Representative Steven H. Schiff's request and a General Accounting Office audit, and it contains Col. Richard L. Weaver's report and 1st Lt. James McAndrew's synopsis, along with attachments, appendices and photographs. The report says researchers found no evidence of an extraterrestrial craft or crew. It concludes that the 1947 debris came from a Project MOGUL balloon train.

  • p. 326 …The fact it descended there was not unusual. Over the course of Project MoGUL, several balloons…
  • p. 427 …This switch completes a circuit through a relay operated ballast valve whenever the balloon system descends…
  • p. 429 …Whenever the balloon system subsequently descends past control altitude~ ballast is made to flow, maintaining the…
  • p. 441 …When the system again descends to 2.5 11 ()(X), the pen arm comes into contact…
  • p. 445 …ft.) to float for another hour before descending. The advantages of this type .t'light for…
  • p. 468 …on ascent; as the balloon began to descend to a region ot higher pressure. a minimum…
  • p. 472 …oration of the electrolyte) and the balloon descends, simple displacement control becomes effect when the high…
  • p. 473 …Then, with both controls operating, bilast will flow only on the descending and floating portions of…
  • p. 479 …rapid descent after the balloon system has descended to some critical value, say 20,000 feet…
  • p. 480 …Through this rupture, the lifting gas can es- cape, and the balloon descends, using the upper…
  • p. 490 …If a system in equilibrium in the stratosphere were to lose lift and descend. the compression…
  • p. 538 …Released trom .Alamogordo, New Mexico, 0509 MST, July 2, 1947 Descended at Cloudcroft, Hew Mexico Using…
  • p. 548 …will not cause the bal- loon to descend as long as the remaining buoyancy is equal…
  • p. 549 …seen descending 18 hours after release. Figure 13 balloons probably several hours, as One balloon was…
  • p. 557 …The finder reported seeing the balloon descend 35 hours after release. Sinoe the ballast flowing to…
  • p. 558 …The .001" polyethylene balloon was observed descending 22 hours later a.f.ter traveling mo!"e…
  • p. 562 Fligllt 6~z Released from Alamogordo, New Mexico, 1116 MST, Kay 13, 1948 Descended at Alamogorde…
  • p. 570 …A ballast meter waa in use, and no ballast flow was recorded until the balloon descended…
  • p. 572 …S.T.) Figure 34 Since the balloon ttid not descend far enough below its maximum altitude…
  • p. 573 …N.M.- 0511 MST, 10 AUG 1948 DESCENDED AT ROSWELL,N.M.- 1630 MST, 10 AUG…
  • p. 576 …Figure 38 the balloon was slowly descending, the temperature of the gas increased with respect to…
  • p. 580 …Flight 90, since the balloon had already descended to the activation level of the auto- matic…
  • p. 583 …one hour of floating it began to descend at an accelerating rate. After falling about 2000…
  • p. 585 …In this system, ballast flow was excited at any altitude if the balloon descended at a…
  • p. 591 …Figure 51 the balloon continued to descend. In both cases the token ballast f'low on…
  • p. 632 …the train will descend. Although this method was used in early experimental flights it proved to…
  • p. 640 …Sealed in with the squib, which is fired electrically ~hen the cell descends below 20.000…
  • p. 665 …In flight 7, however, the cluster rose till the lifters were cut off, descended until sufficient…
  • p. 667 …14,000 feet from which it slowly descended. Since the blowout patch was set to act…
  • p. 668 …known to have lasted for ten hours, descending at Marietta, Oklahoma. Flight 22, included an earlier…
  • p. 669 …It was observed descending 50 miles north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 14 hours later. ihe average…
  • p. 670 …at 50,700 feet and began to descend immediately. Flight 38 (see figure 55) was observed…
  • p. 713 …the Universit,y that balloons have been descending outside of the area in the vicinity of…
  • p. 715 …When the balloon descends to 20-000 feet, it not in the clear, positions will be…
  • p. 725 …VIas it observed descending? If so. when? 4. Di_d it float dawn slowly or fall…
  • p. 736 …The only provision for having the system regain altitude if it descended too low was by…
  • p. 738 …open to the atmosphere until the balloon descends from a minimum pressure ..-\t this time, an…
  • p. 739 …ft where it leveled off, then slowly descended to 9000 ft due to diffusion losses. At…
  • p. 740 …For the ballast valve to function, the balloon had to descend to a pressure which would…
  • p. 741 …When the original 2700-gram ballast was expended, the balloon descended rapidly. Even had the auto…
  • p. 777 …e which drops ballast whenever the balloon descends below a preset altitude. The specifications for the…
  • p. 778 …Once the balloon sta.rtE descending (due to loss of hydrot;en by diffusion or by…
  • p. 784 …The remaining train thereupon descended as fast as it bad climbed (1,000 ft. per minute…
  • p. 870 …After reaching maximum altitude, the balloons all exhibit a tendency to float then descend at an…
  • p. 874 will cause the balloon to descend. Third, as a consequence of the previous limi te.tion…
  • p. 878 …WHEN THE BALLOON DESCeNDs THE PEN ARM RIDES DOWN ON CoMMUTATOR UNDER THE SHELF, CLOSING THE…
  • p. 892 …Was it observed descending? If so, at what timet 4. Did it float down slowly or…
  • p. 988 …Due to the prevailing westerlies, MOGUL balloons often descended in the vicinity of Roswell after launch…
This effect adds to the stabilit.y of stratospheric balloon flights.
If a system in equilibrium in the stratosphere were to lose lift
and descend. the compression of the gas would cause an increase
of the lifting gas temperature relative to the air temperature.
causing a decrease in 'Imbalance.
Similarly. an initial 1.mbalance causing rise of the system would
cause relative cooling of the lifting gas and thus again decrease
the unbalance. Hence. the rate of rise or descent in the strato-
sphere will be limited by the rate of heat exchange due to con-
duction and radiation. which will counteract this effect of
adiabatic heating or cooling.
Empirical evidence indicates that there is a great deal more
stability in a stratospheric balloon system than in a similar
system floating in the troposphere. This "adiabatic stability" is
a principal reason for better performance of stratosphere tlighte.
E. Diffusion and Leakage of Lifting Gas
The lifting gas of a balloon can be lost by:
leakage through small holes in the fabric or film;
solution, migration and evaporation th~ugh fabric or film;
true molecular diffusion through openings. such as the
appendix opening.
(1) Leakage
Volumetric flow, Q, of a gas through any given opening in the
balloon surface may be evaluated as a function of the area of
the opening. A; the pressure head causing the flow, Is and a co-
efficient of leakage,Cd•
(1) where g is the acceleration
due to gravity
It would be difficult to evaluate the amount and area of holes
in the be.lloon surface. Let us, then, compare the rate of
leakage at any given altitude with leakage at sea level. rather
than attempting to evaluate the leakage at a given altitude.
Firs-t; we shall compare the rate of leakage of a full balloon
at any given altitude with leakage of a full balloon at sea
level. Let us assume that the area of any opening in the sur-
face of the balloon does not vary with altitude and that the
coefficient of leakage is constant. Thus:
(2)
-40-
where h is pressure head in
feet of lifting gas

Cases discussed

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FOIA release, from the osd collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 993 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.