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The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert

USAF / The Black Vault · 1995 · 882 pages · text by OCR

The Roswell Report: Fact versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert was published by Headquarters United States Air Force in 1995. The Black Vault distributes this copy. It reproduces the report by Col. Richard L. Weaver and the synopsis by 1st Lt. James McAndrew, both written after a General Accounting Office inquiry requested by Representative Steven Schiff. The Air Force search found no evidence of an extraterrestrial craft or crew. It concluded that the Roswell debris most likely came from NYU Flight No. 4, a Project MOGUL balloon train.

  • p. 118 …Robert Gross and Mr. Maher of Lockheed 11:55 A.M. Gen. Sam Anderson 12:00…
  • p. 393 …in the form of an altitude vs. gross load chart with helium as the lifting gas…
  • p. 394 …4}{\text {Gross Load}} = \frac {K}{W} $$ In turn, $ \frac{K}{W}=a e^{-0. 4…
  • p. 395 …free lift in pounds and G is gross lift in pounds. Although this equation was derived…
  • p. 400 …By equation (10), with a gross load of 52 kg., the unbalance caused by loss of…
  • p. 412 …or a gross buoyancy of 450 lb., the maximum allowable inflation of a 30' diameter, .001…
  • p. 479 …accelerating force equal to 5% of the gross load (52 kg) was acting to bring the…
  • p. 552 …000 feet. In one step, this becomes: Gross Lift/Balloon = (Balloon Volume) x (Difference in molecular…
  • p. 555 …of rise in feet per minute G = gross lift in grams For our purposes, we wish…
  • p. 559 …G) ^ {\frac {2}{3}} $$ (Approximate) where G = gross load A chart, Figure 24, has beendrawn up…
  • p. 561 …where $ \triangle G= $ loss of lift G = gross load (balloon weight plus equipment load) $ \triangle T…
  • p. 562 …not including balloon or its integral parts. Gross load: Load on the gas at release (Balloon…
  • p. 635 …Serial No. ___ description ___ ___ Line length ___ Banner description ___ ___ Ballast assembly - description ___ ___ Eallast. ___ Total Equipment Weight. ___ Gross Load ___
  • p. 636 …Gross Load . . . ___ Assumed Gross Lift (Gross Load + 10%) G ___ G 2/3 ___ Free Lift - F = $ (\frac…
  • p. 649 …theoretical altitude determined by the displacement and gross load. ## 7. Control systems Two systems of control…
  • p. 681 …By adjusting the gross load to be supported by the gas to equal the total lift…
  • p. 691 …A chart showing the relation between altitude, gross lift, and balloon size has been found necessary…
  • p. 775 …The gross load reported should be accurate to the nearest 200 grams. The amount of lifting…
  • p. 777 500 gm DRAG CHUTES 300 " BANNER 2000 " PAYLOAD 4500 " BALLOON 7300 " GROSS LOAD ## NOTE: Use low…
  • p. 779 …bubble length and resultant inflated volume, using gross lift as an expression of volume. It will…
  • p. 781 …in Appendix II summarizes the relationship between gross load and floating level for balloons of several…
  • p. 817 …A can of sand is made to weigh the same amount as the required gross lift…
  • p. 825 …the balloon with the equipment load attached. Gross Lift: Lift of all of the gas in…
  • p. 830 …Serial No. ___ description ___ Drag chute ___ ___ Banner description ___ ___ Ballast assembly - description ___ ___ Ballast ___ Total Equipment Weight . ___ Gross Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ___
  • p. 831 …waiting___ grams Actual balloon lift . . . . . . . . . . . ___ " AActual gross lift (Balloon lift & balloon wt.) . . . . . ___ " Number Helium tanks required…
  • p. 835 …Gross Lift vs. Bubble Length . . . . . . . 107 Graph 3: Buoyancy vs. Altitude . . . . . . . . . . 108 Graph 4: Gross Load…
  • p. 847 …Estimated Gross Load Limit kg. Altitude Range ft. 7 200 0.6 1.5 to 5…
We may use this equation to approximate the rise of a full balloon system when controlled by overcompensated constant ballast flow:

$$
\frac {d z}{d t} = \frac {d W}{d t} \times A
$$

where z is the balloon ceiling, t is time, and W is total weight of the balloon system.

## B. Rate of Rise

The equation of Clarke and Korff:

$$
\frac {d z}{d t} = 2 7 2 \frac {F ^ {1 / 2}}{G ^ {1 / 3}} \frac {c m}{s e c}
$$

has been used to obtain the relationship between rate of rise and free lift (or excess buoyancy) for a balloon system of any given weight. For practical use, the equation has been modified to:

$$
\frac {d z}{d t} = 1 4 8 6 \frac {F ^ {1 / 2}}{G ^ {1 / 3}}
$$

where F is free lift in pounds and G is gross lift in pounds.

Although this equation was derived for use with extensible spherical balloons, it predicts closely the performance of non-extensible balloons while they are rising to floating level. An average value for the constant in equation (2) from actual flights is 1600 ft./min(1b.) $ ^{1/6} $

The deviation from this relationship, evidenced in several flights, may be due to several variations from the assumptions upon which the equation is based. This deviation has in general been an increase of rate of rise of from 0 to 25% at higher altitudes.

To explain this increase, let us first investigate the changes which may occur in the free lift. If any gas leaves the balloon because of leakage through the balloon or the appendix, the free lift will be reduced and the rate of rise will decrease (as it does after the balloon is full and "levels off"). Therefore, this variation may be ruled out when considering rise before the balloon becomes full.

Free lift will vary with changes of temperature of the lifting gas with respect to the free-air temperature. A change of this sort can be caused by acquisition of superheat of the lifting gas, or by temperature decrease or increase caused by adiabatic expansion or compression of the lifting gas. (These items will be discussed later in this report.) Actual temperature measurements during rising portions of flights indicate that there is no appreciable tempera-

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