Skyhook balloon

Skyhook balloons were high-altitude balloons developed by Otto C. Winzen and General Mills, Inc. They were used by the United States Navy Office of Naval Research (ONR) in the late 1940s and 1950s for atmospheric research, especially for constant-level meteorological observations at very high altitudes. Instruments like the Cherenkov detector were first used on Skyhook balloons.

Project Skyhook

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 the stratosphere to conduct research. This project carried forward work from an earlier project, Helios, that General Mills and Jean Piccard initiated 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 lb payload of nuclear emulsion to over 100000 ft. At low level immediately after launch, the lifting gas (hydrogen or helium) 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 a sphere or ovoid. In some models the balloons could reach diameters of more than 30 m.

Project Stratoscope

On August 19, 1957, an unmanned Skyhook balloon lifted the first Project Stratoscope telescope. Project Stratoscope I was a program developed to research the Sun. Instruments included a 12-inch (30-centimeter) telescope with a special light-sensitive pointing system and a closed-circuit television camera that was guided by the scientists on the ground. This was the first balloon-borne telescope. The telescope took more than 400 photographs of sunspots. 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

In 1948, Skyhook balloons were used to show that in addition to protons and electrons, cosmic rays also 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 funded cosmic ray expedition at the geomagnetic equator. 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 90000 ft and 105000 ft and encountered temperatures as low as -80 C. Aircraft from Patrol 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

Skyhook balloons may have been the origin of some UFO observations. The most famous case possibly involving a Skyhook mis-sighting was the Mantell UFO incident.[12]

See also

• Gas balloon
• Mantell UFO Incident
• Project Genetrix
• Project Moby Dick
• Project Mogul
• Project Strato-Lab

Bibliography

• Freier, P., Lofgren, E. J., Ney, E. P. and Oppenheimer, H. L. 1948. Evidence for heavy nuclei in the primary cosmic radiation. Physical Review 74:213-17
• United States Centennial of Flight. Otto C. Winzen

External links

• Skeptical Inquiry article - The cold war's classified Skyhook program, a participant's revelations
• StratoCat - Historical recompilation project on the use of stratospheric balloons in the scientific research, the military field and the aerospace activity
• Office of Naval Research