Editing Project Mogul

{{Short description|US surveillance project from 1947 to 1949}}
[[File:Mogul balloon train USAF 1995.png|thumb|alt=A vintage military photo shows a string of balloons and reflectors stretching into the sky.|A Project Mogul array]]

'''Project Mogul''' (sometimes referred to as '''Operation Mogul''') was a [[classified information|top secret]] project by the [[United States Army Air Forces|US Army Air Forces]] involving microphones flown on [[high-altitude balloon]]s, whose primary purpose was long-distance detection of [[sound wave]]s generated by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[nuclear testing|atomic bomb tests]]. 

While successful, the balloon method was soon superseded by seismic detectors. In popular culture, the legacy of Project Mogul has been the [[Roswell incident]], in which a crashed Mogul balloon was mistaken for an extraterrestrial spacecraft, giving rise to a persistent UFO legend.

== Project history ==
The project was carried out from 1947 until early 1949. It was a classified portion of an unclassified project by [[New York University]] (NYU) atmospheric researchers.{{R|"Frazier"}} The project was moderately successful, but was very expensive and was superseded by a network of [[seismic]] detectors and air sampling for fallout, which were cheaper, more reliable, and easier to deploy and operate.<ref name="McAndrew">{{cite web |last1=McAndrew, 1st Lt, USAFR |first1=James |title=Report on Project Mogul  Synopsis of Balloon Research Findings |url=https://muller.lbl.gov/teaching/physics10/Roswell/USMogulReport.html |website=muller.lbl.gov |publisher=University of California Berkeley, California |access-date=30 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="Webster">{{cite web |last1=Webster |first1=Donovan |title=In 1947, A High-Altitude Balloon Crash Landed in Roswell. The Aliens Never Left  |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/in-1947-high-altitude-balloon-crash-landed-roswell-aliens-never-left-180963917/ |date=July 5, 2017 |work=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=30 April 2025}}</ref>

[[File:Mogul height Weaver 1995 USAF.png|thumb|alt=A chart compares the height of a Mogul Balloon Train at 657 feet, the Eiffel Tower at 1056 feet, the Washington Monument at 555 feet, and the Statue of Liberty at 305 feet.|Relative height of a Project Mogul balloon train]]

Project Mogul was conceived by [[Maurice Ewing]] who had earlier researched the [[deep sound channel]] in the oceans and theorized that a similar sound channel existed in the [[Earth's atmosphere|upper atmosphere]]: a certain height where the air pressure and temperature result in minimal speed of sound, so that sound waves would propagate and stay in that channel due to [[refraction]]. The project involved arrays of balloons carrying disc microphones and radio transmitters to relay the signals to the ground. It was supervised by James Peoples, who was assisted by [[Albert P. Crary]].<ref name="McAndrew" />

One of the requirements of the balloons was that they maintain a relatively [[aerostat|constant altitude]] over a prolonged period of time.  Thus instrumentation had to be developed to maintain such constant altitudes, such as pressure sensors controlling the release of [[buoyancy compensator (aviation)|ballast]].<ref name="McAndrew" />

The early Mogul balloons consisted of large clusters of rubber [[Weather balloon|meteorological balloons]], however, these were quickly replaced by enormous balloons made of [[polyethylene]] plastic. These were more durable, leaked less [[helium]], and also were better at maintaining a constant altitude than the early rubber balloons. Constant-altitude-control and polyethylene balloons were the two major innovations of Project Mogul.<ref name="McAndrew" />

==Subsequent programs==
{{Main|Nuclear detonation detection system|United States aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet Union}}
Project Mogul was the forerunner of the [[Skyhook balloon]] program, which started in the late 1940s, as well as two other [[espionage]] programs involving balloon overflights and photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union during the 1950s, [[Project Moby Dick]] and [[Project Genetrix]].  The spy balloon overflights raised storms of protest from the Soviets.<ref>[http://stratocat.com.ar/stratopedia/28.htm][https://books.google.com/books?id=uOcrDF0y-CAC&dq=project+genetrix+soviet+protests&pg=PA78 Project Genetrix and Soviet protests]</ref> The constant-altitude balloons also were used for scientific purposes such as [[cosmic ray]] experiments. 

Further development of [[nuclear detonation detection system]]s was extensive for decades afterward, culminating in worldwide systems by various countries to keep eyes and ears on detecting and verifying the others' nuclear weapon developments. 

There would also be fixed-wing [[United States aerial reconnaissance of the Soviet Union]] during the 1950s. Overflights would end in 1960 [[1960 U-2 incident|once an aircraft had been shot down by SAMs]]. Reconnaissance would for decades afterward be handled mostly by [[reconnaissance satellite]]s and to some extent by aircraft, such as the A-12 OXCART and SR-71 Blackbird (photography and radar) and RC-135U and similar aircraft (SIGINT including ELINT and COMINT).

==Roswell incident==
{{main|Roswell incident}}
{{see also|Skyhook balloon#Skyhook as UFO}}
[[File:Roswell Reports, Volume 1.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=181|start=137|end=228|The ''Roswell Report'' compiled by the United States Air Force attributed the 1947 Roswell debris to a Project Mogul balloon.]]

In 1947, a Project Mogul balloon ''NYU Flight 4'', launched June 4,{{R|"Frazier"}} crashed in the desert near [[Roswell, New Mexico]]. The subsequent military cover-up of the true nature of the balloon and burgeoning conspiracy theories from UFO enthusiasts led to a celebrated "UFO" incident.<ref name=olmsted184>{{cite book|author=Kathryn S. Olmsted|title=Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7Sd5vyOOtEC&pg=PA184|date=11 March 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-975395-6|pages=184}} Olmsted writes "When one of these balloons smashed into the sands of the New Mexico ranch, the military decided to hide the project's real purpose." The Official Air Force report (Weaver &amp; McAndrew 1995) had concluded (p. 9) "[...] the material recovered near Roswell was consistent with a balloon device and most likely from one of the MOGUL balloons that had not been previously recovered."</ref>

Unlike a weather balloon, the Project Mogul paraphernalia were massive and contained unusual types of materials, according to research conducted by ''[[The New York Times]]'': "...squadrons of big balloons ... It was like having an elephant in your backyard and hoping that no one would notice it. ... To the untrained eye, the reflectors looked extremely odd, a geometrical hash of lightweight sticks and sharp angles made of metal foil. .. photographs of it, taken in 1947 and published in newspapers, show bits and pieces of what are obviously collapsed balloons and radar reflectors."<ref>{{cite news |last=Broad |first=William J. |date=September 18, 1994 |title=Wreckage in the Desert Was Odd but Not Alien |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/18/us/wreckage-in-the-desert-was-odd-but-not-alien.html?pagewanted=all   |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|location=New York |access-date=February 6, 2017}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Implementation of Mogul's experimental [[infrasound]] detection of nuclear tests exist today in ground-based detectors, part of so-called [[Geophysical MASINT]] (measurement and signal intelligence). In 2013, this world-wide network of sound detectors picked up the large explosion of the [[Chelyabinsk meteor]] in Russia. The strength of the sound waves was used to estimate the size of the explosion.

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Frazier">{{cite journal |last1=Frazier |first1=Kendrick |author-link1=Kendrick Frazier |title=The Roswell Incident at 70: Facts, Not Myths |journal=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=2017 |volume=41 |issue=6 |pages=12–15 |url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_roswell_incident_at_70_facts_not_myths |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720182643/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_roswell_incident_at_70_facts_not_myths |url-status=dead |archive-date=2018-07-20 |access-date=20 July 2018}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151117031650/http://www.nmt.edu/news/3704-charles-b-moore-1920-2010 Obituary] of the man who launched the balloon 

[[Category:Balloons (aeronautics)]]
[[Category:Military projects of the United States]]
[[Category:Roswell incident]]
[[Category:Soviet Union–United States relations]]
[[Category:Projects of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:Cold War military history of the United States]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]