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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…
If a balloon is teardrop in shape rather than spherical, the curve would be modified so that the value of $ C_{D} $ , for a given Reynolds number would be lower. In this case the sudden drop in $ C_{D} $ as Reynolds number increases (the change from viscous to turbulent flow) would occur at a lower Reynolds number.

We have thus far in our discussion assumed that there is no vertical motion of the air surrounding the balloon system relative to the coordinate z . However, this is not necessarily the case under actual conditions. In many instances vertical air movement is found in the atmosphere. Therefore, we must introduce a term to allow for this vertical air movement. In equation (2) this term was indicated as $ \pm F_{A} $ , the external atmospheric force.

We may consider this vertical air movement in terms of a velocity D $ \zeta $ . Then the vertical velocity of the balloon system relative to the air surrounding the system will be the difference between the velocity of the balloon relative to the absolute altitude Dz and the velocity of the surrounding air relative to the absolute altitude This may be equated as Dz-D $ \zeta $ , where Dz and D $ \zeta $ are both considered positive in the direction of increase of altitude.

The total force due to the drag, or friction will be:

$$
F _ {D} + F _ {A T M} = C _ {D} \frac {\rho}{z} A (D z - D \xi) ^ {2}
$$

where the notations are those used previously, except that now $ N_{R}=\frac{(Dz-D\zeta)d\rho}{\mu} $ . The relationship between $ N_{R} $ and $ C_{D} $ will be those used previously.

The force due to buoyancy of the lifting gas $ F_{b}=V_{b} \left( \dot{\rho}_{a}-\dot{\rho}_{g} \right) $ where:

$$
V _ {b} = \text {b a l l o o n v o l u m e (f t .} ^ {3})
$$

$ \rho_{a}, \rho_{g} $ density of the air and lifting gas, respectively (1b./ft. $ ^{3} $)

This term may also be stated as: F = $ V_{b}\left(\frac{P_{g}}{R_{a}T_{a}}-\frac{P_{g}}{R_{g}T_{g}}\right) $ where:

$ p_{a}, p_{g} = $ pressure of air and lifting gas

$ R_{a}, R_{g} = $ specific gas constant of air and lifting gas

$ T_{a}, T_{g} $ = temperature of air and lifting gas

The changes that will take place in this expression are those due to a temperature difference between the lifting gas and the free air, change in volume of the balloon due to loss of lifting gas, change of the gas constant of the lifting gas due to dilution with air, and (in the case of a balloon that will hold an internal pressure) pressure difference between lifting gas and surrounding air.

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Report, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 882 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.