65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Section 006

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

FLYING SAUCERS continued

Skyhook ready for ascent. "Saucers" were unheard of until ONR's experiments in the stratosphere began under Dr. Liddel's supervision.

# Bigger Skyhooks coming then more "saucers" will fly

recorded on the instruments dangling from them. The instruments are released electronically by parachute at the end of the flight.

The cosmic-ray experiments themselves stem from pioneer work done by Dr. Robert A. Millikan 30 years ago when the bombardment of particles from outer space was first discovered. These peculiar phenomena were thought to be some kind of light ray from an unknown source. They were later discovered to be atomic particles striking at the rate of five per square inch per minute at the earth's surface.

## Cosmic-Ray Mystery

The source of these particles is unknown. One theory firmly held for a while was that they originated from explosions on the sun. Some scientists believe now that their impact and energy are so great they must originate from higher-powered galaxies outside the solar system.

Whatever their source, these particles strike atoms in the earth's atmosphere, cause them to explode and fill the atmosphere with atomic debris.

Physicists early discovered that the higher they went in the atmosphere the more certain they could be of recording the explosions with the greatest accuracy. Their ultimate aim is to make photographs and measurements at the very fringe of the earth's atmosphere, for all the air below that is filled in greater or lesser degree with atomic debris from the explosions.

These explosions, of course, cannot be seen or felt by the human mechanism. But their dramatic impact on the measuring devices can be photographed with startling clarity.

General Mills and the Office of Naval Research are working on a new balloon with four times the capacity of the Skyhook, which can rise to heights of 120,000 feet. This will leave only 0.4 per cent of the earth's atmospheric envelope above the new balloon.

The fourth type is the Skyhook project which has led to so many reports of flying saucers. But there are still more to come.

Four levels of cosmic-ray experimentation have been in progress. The first is at sea level where the bombardment is measured and photographed in devices called cloud chambers. This type of experimentation also goes on at two laboratories, Mount Evans and Climax Mountain, both in Colorado, at 14,000 feet.

A third type of experimentation was carried on in three B-29 bombers, fitted out as flying laboratories. They flew up and down a degree of latitude toward the North Pole and away from it between Fort Churchill, Manitoba, and Lima, Peru. These flying laboratories made their recordings at between 30,000 and 40,000 feet.

It can safely be predicted that a year hence there will be a new wave of flying-saucer reports. A new, improved model will be observed by credulous and alarmed citizens of middle America. These observers will be unable to escape the conclusion that the thing in outer space is gaining on us.

END