Project Mogul
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏛️ Program or study
Contents 6
| Type | Program or study |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Mogul |
| On the Timeline | 9 events, 1947–2020 |
Project Mogul was a top-secret U.S. Army Air Forces project from 1947 to early 1949 that flew microphones on high-altitude balloons to listen for the sound waves of Soviet atomic bomb tests from thousands of kilometres away. One of its balloon trains, NYU Flight 4, is identified by the U.S. Air Force as the source of the debris found near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.[1][2]
Concept
The idea came from geophysicist Maurice Ewing of Columbia University, who had studied the deep "sound channel" in the ocean, where sound can travel enormous distances. He theorised that a similar channel existed in the upper atmosphere, where low-frequency sound from a distant explosion could be trapped and detected. The project was supervised by James Peoples with Albert Crary, and ran as a classified part of an unclassified New York University atmospheric research program.[1]
Equipment and flights
Mogul balloon trains carried disc microphones and radio transmitters to relay signals to the ground, along with radar reflectors so they could be tracked. Pressure sensors released ballast to hold the balloons at a steady altitude. Early flights used clusters of rubber weather balloons; these were replaced by large polyethylene balloons that leaked less helium and held altitude better. Many flights were launched from Alamogordo Army Air Field in New Mexico.[1][3]
Roswell
NYU Flight 4 was launched on 4 June 1947 and lost; the Air Force's 1995 report The Roswell Report: Fact vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert concluded that its remains — rubber balloons, foil-covered radar reflectors made of balsa sticks, and tape — were the debris found by rancher Mac Brazel and announced by Roswell Army Air Field as a "flying disc".[1][2] An FBI teletype of 8 July 1947 had described the recovered object as resembling a high-altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector.[4] The New York Times described the reflectors as "a geometrical hash of lightweight sticks and sharp angles made of metal foil".[5] Charles B. Moore, an NYU engineer who launched Mogul balloons, later supported this identification.[6] Roswell researchers dispute it, arguing that witnesses described stronger, stranger material.
End and legacy
Mogul was moderately successful but very expensive. It was replaced by cheaper and more reliable methods of detecting nuclear tests, including seismic sensors and air sampling for fallout. Its constant-altitude balloons led directly to the Skyhook research balloon program, whose large balloons were themselves blamed for many UFO reports, and to later reconnaissance balloon projects such as Moby Dick and Genetrix. Infrasound detection of the kind Mogul pioneered is still used in monitoring networks today, which in 2013 recorded the explosion of the Chelyabinsk meteor.[1]
On the UAP Timeline
- Thomas DuBose affidavit on the Roswell debris (8 July 1947) — Col. Thomas DuBose's affidavit says the Roswell debris went via Fort Worth to Wright Field and the balloon photos were a cover story.
- War Department denial of a U.S. disc program (1947) (19 August 1947) — The War Department says it knows of no U.S. program that could explain the flying discs.
- Jesse Marcel Jr.'s account of the Roswell debris (6 March 1991) — Jesse Marcel Jr. says his father showed him strange Roswell debris in 1947.
- DuBose affidavit (1991) (16 September 1991) — Gen. Thomas DuBose says the Roswell balloon story was a cover and the event was above Top Secret.
- Richard Weaver on MJ-12 (1993) (12 October 1993) — An Air Force colonel calls MJ-12 and its documents bogus but can't say how that was decided.
- GAO Roswell records report (28 July 1995) — Rep. Steven Schiff says Roswell base records were destroyed, per a GAO audit.
- The Roswell Report: Case Closed (24 June 1997) — The Air Force's 'Case Closed' report says Roswell 'bodies' were crash-test dummies.
- Two Roswell materials claim (2002) (1 March 2002) — A general reportedly tells Eric Davis two unusual materials were recovered at Roswell.
- Marcel family Roswell debris (12 December 2020) — Jesse Marcel's grandson says his family held unusual Roswell debris.
References
- Project Mogul — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- James McAndrew, "Report on Project Mogul: Synopsis of Balloon Research Findings" · muller.lbl.gov · archived copy
- Donovan Webster, "In 1947, A High-Altitude Balloon Crash Landed in Roswell. The Aliens Never Left", Smithsonian Magazine (2017) · smithsonianmag.com · archived copy
- FBI Vault: Roswell UFO, Part 1 · vault.fbi.gov · archived copy
- William J. Broad, "Wreckage in the Desert Was Odd but Not Alien", The New York Times (18 Sep 1994) · nytimes.com · archived copy
- Obituary of Charles B. Moore, New Mexico Tech (2010) · web.archive.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
No discussion yet.