roswell

Fli.g!lt 89: Released from Alamogordo, New Mexico, 1005 MST, August 26, 1948
Not recovered
On this flight a .001", 20-foot polyethylene balloon was used to carry
a ballast meter to about 45,000 feet to detennine the ballast requirements
at that altitude, using an automatic ballast valve. No record of ballast
flow was telemetered during this flight, but it is not known whether the
ballast meter was inoperative or the ballast valve itself failed--possibly
due to failure of a squib to detonate at the combined low pressure and cold
temperatures aloft.
From the height-time curve, l<'igure 39, it will be noted that the balloon
was in a near floating condition for about five hours afterxeaching its maxi-
mum altitude. The total weight available on this flight was 2 kg, so a loss
of 400 grams per hour would have been required if the ballast was used
during this period.
From Flights 70 and 71 we know that a balloon has re~Ained for about four
hours at slightly higher altitudes with no ballast flow to support it; Flight
89, therefore, is not necessarily an example of the action of the automatic
ballast valve control.
M~---r----~---.----~--~~--~----T---~----~
40~ / 1'\
.I V \' I HEIGHT llt.£ CURVE '
I ru~~ ~
20 -+-+---t-----1 Released d Alamogordo;N.M. t---+------!114--'----1
·V ~~"="" \
Fig;ure 39
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