Accession Number:

AD0700951

Title:

AN EVALUATION OF INFLATABLE FALLING SPHERE DENSITY DATA,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES LAB WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE N MEX

Personal Author(s):

• Olsen,Robert

Report Date:

1969-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

36.0

Abstract:

Density measurements utilizing inflatable passive falling spheres were made at White Sands Missile Range. Two different rocket vehicle systems, the Viper Balloon dart system and the Super Loki balloon dart system, were used to deploy the sphere at apogee to demonstrate the capabilities of each of these systems in providing high-altitude data. Five sets of density data computed from a total of fourteen flights were compared with density data derived from rocketsonde soundings and the 1966 Standard Atmosphere. A negative density departure from the 1966 Standard Atmosphere was shown to exist between 70 and 80 km. Two sets of density data were derived from each flight, with the exception of the first flight, one utilizing the Sandia drag table, the other the University of Minnesota drag table. The difference between the density values using the two tables can be as great as 12. Density data computed from these flights were compared with density data derived from rocketsonde soundings and the 1966 Standard Atmosphere. Author

Descriptors:

• (*ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDING
• SPHERES)
• (*UPPER ATMOSPHERE
• DENSITY)
• DRAG
• HIGH ALTITUDE
• BALLOONS
• RADAR TRACKING
• SOUNDING ROCKETS
• RADIOSONDES
• GUIDED MISSILE RANGES

Subject Categories:

• Atmospheric Physics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE