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Skyhook balloon

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For the Skyhook aerial retrieval system, seeFulton surface-to-air recovery system.
A Skyhook balloon launched in 1957 to photograph the Sun

Skyhook balloonswerehigh-altitude balloonsdeveloped byOtto C. WinzenandGeneral Mills, Inc.They were used by theUnited States NavyOffice of Naval Research(ONR) in the late 1940s and 1950s foratmosphericresearch, especially for constant-level meteorological observations at very high altitudes. Instruments like theCherenkov detectorwere first used on Skyhook balloons.

Project Skyhook

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In the late 1940s, Project Skyhook was conceived of as a means by which plastic balloons could be used to transmit or send instruments into thestratosphereto conduct research. This project carried forward work from an earlier project, Helios, thatGeneral MillsandJean Piccardinitiated to use arrays of giant plastic balloons to carry humans aloft.[1]

Balloons, long used for collecting meteorological data, now offered the opportunity of collecting highly specialized information and photographs. The first Skyhook balloon was launched on September 25, 1947. The balloon was developed by the Aeronautical Division of General Mills.[2][3]It carried a 63 pounds (29 kg) payload ofnuclear emulsionto over 100,000 feet (30,000 m). At low level immediately after launch, the lifting gas (hydrogenorhelium) in the balloons formed a small bubble at the top of the envelope, resulting in the balloon having a "limp" look. At the lower air pressure at higher altitudes, the gas expanded and eventually filled the whole envelope forming asphereorovoid.In some models the balloons could reach diameters of more than 30 m.[4]

In the succeeding 10 years, over 1,500 Skyhook flights were made for investigations supported by the ONR and for European scientists. These flights were made from locations in theUnited States,Canada,and naval vessels in theAtlantic,Pacific,Caribbean,andArcticwaters. BothWinzen ResearchandGeneral Millsparticipated in these launchings, and in later years, theAtomic Energy Commissionjoined ONR in support of Project Skyhook.[5]

Skyhook balloon leaving the deck of theUSSNorton Sound(AVM-1)on March 31, 1949.

Among significant flights, Project Skyhook launched the first successful three-balloon cluster in 1948. Then in 1949 the first shipboard Skyhook launch took place. It was followed by nearly 300 shipboard launchings over the next 10 years.

The first manned plastic balloon flight under ONR contract took place in 1949. ProjectRockoon,in 1952, featured a Skyhook balloon that released smallDeacon rocketsat about 70,000 feet (21,000 m) above arctic waters.

One of the first known attempts to carry out an astrophysical measurement from a plastic balloon occurred under the Skyhook program on June 30, 1954. During the solar eclipse on that date two Skyhook balloons were launched by Winzen Research with camera gondolas employing simple orientating systems.[6]The objective was to photograph the eclipse from high altitude. Varied photographic equipment was carried and aimed at the Sun to obtain full coverage for the total period of totality.[7]

On September 7, 1956, theUniversity of Minnesotalaunched a giantMylarballoon (developed by theG. T. Schejeldahl Corporationof Northfield, MN) to set an unofficial balloon altitude record of 145,000 feet (44,000 m) for unmanned balloons. In 1957 the US Navy began an operational aerology system known as Transosonde (trans-ocean sounding), consisting of almost daily balloon flights across the Pacific Ocean fromJapan.[5]

Project Stratoscope

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On August 19, 1957, an unmanned Skyhook balloon lifted the firstProject Stratoscopetelescope. Project Stratoscope I was a program developed to research theSun.Instruments included a 12-inch (30-centimeter)telescopewith a special light-sensitive pointing system and aclosed-circuit television camerathat was guided by the scientists on the ground. This was the first balloon-borne telescope. The telescope took more than 400 photographs ofsunspots.These were the sharpest photographs taken of the Sun up to that time. The photographs increased scientists' understanding of the motions observed in the strong magnetic fields of the sunspots.[8][9]

Project Churchy

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In 1948, Skyhook balloons were used to show that in addition toprotonsandelectrons,cosmic raysalso include high energy atomic nuclei that are stripped of their electrons. Thirteen stratospheric plastic Skyhook balloons were launched in September 1953 as part of Project Churchy,[10]an Office of Naval Research fundedcosmic rayexpedition at the geomagneticequator.Project Churchy was conducted at the Galápagos because high-energy cosmic-ray particles can only be collected at the geomagnetic equator without accompanying low-energy particles found at higher latitudes. Balloons carrying scientific instruments rose to between 90,000 feet (27,000 m) and 105,000 feet (32,000 m) and encountered temperatures as low as -80 °C (-112 °F). Aircraft fromPatrol Squadron (VP) 45 ‘Pelicans’took off an hour after the launch of each balloon and visually tracked the balloon until it released its cargo and deflated. The instruments were observed until splashdown, and marked for destroyers to retrieve.[11]

Skyhook as UFO

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See also:Project Mogul § Roswell incident

Skyhook balloons may have been the origin of some UFO observations. The most famous case possibly involving a Skyhook mis-sighting was theMantell UFO incident.[12](The script of the filmEarth vs. the Flying Saucers(1956) mentions "Project Skyhook" ).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Ross, Malcolm D (January 1959). "Basic Research at Record Breaking Altitudes".Exchangite.The Exchange Club: 3–13.
  2. ^Goodsell, Suzy (August 4, 2011)."The" daddy "of the balloon industry".General Mills blog website.Archived fromthe originalon 2015-09-11.Retrieved2015-03-15.
  3. ^Final Report: Project 85012, Report No. 1227,General Mills, Inc, Mechanical Division, Engineering Research & Development Department, September 4, 1953.
  4. ^'Sunday Ship History: Skyhooked',EagleSpeak.us website, January 21, 2008.
  5. ^abTechnical Information Office, ONR (May 1958). "The Stratolab program of the Office of Naval Research (p3, Background Information on the Upper Atmosphere Research Program)". Press Release, Office of Naval Research, Washington, DC.
  6. ^Suomi, V. E and Beson, E. E. Astronomical Observations from a Skyhook Balloon. Winzen Research, Inc. Technical report #1150-R, February 1955
  7. ^Ross, Malcolm D.,Office of Naval Research. Plastic Balloons for Planetary Research. Presented at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. January 31, 1958
  8. ^Rogerson, John B. Jr. (January 1958). "Project Stratoscope -- Solar Photographs from 80,000 Feet".Sky and Telescope.Vol. 17. p. 112.
  9. ^"Science: Project Stratoscope".Time.7 October 1957. Archived fromthe originalon March 26, 2010.
  10. ^Walt Kellygave permission to use the name Churchy, the turtle character of his comic stripPogo,as a nod to theturtleson the Galapagos Islands.
  11. ^"Project Churchy".Archived fromthe originalon 2008-09-08.Retrieved2009-12-23.
  12. ^The First Air Force Pilot to Die Chasing a UFO Was Actually Chasing a Secret Balloon

Bibliography

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  • Freier, P., Lofgren, E. J., Ney, E. P. and Oppenheimer, H. L. 1948. Evidence for heavy nuclei in the primary cosmic radiation.Physical Review74:213-17
  • United States Centennial of Flight.Otto C. Winzen
  • Childs, Captain Donald R. (22 April 1960)."High Altitude Balloon Research and Development Programs".United States Navy Medical Newsletter.35(8). U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery:28–35.Retrieved19 June2015.
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