Project MOGUL

  Origins and Context

Project MOGUL began in 1947 as a classified Air Force effort to monitor Soviet nuclear weapons development.¹ The program used high-altitude balloon arrays carrying acoustic sensors to detect nuclear detonations.²

  Program Structure

New York University's Watson Laboratories managed technical development under Air Force oversight.³ The program launched balloon trains carrying microphones and specialized reflectors from Alamogordo Army Air Field.⁴

  Technical Capabilities

The balloons reached altitudes of 60,000 feet to exploit a sound channel in the upper atmosphere.⁵ Constant-level balloon technology allowed extended flight times for long-duration monitoring missions.⁶

  Legacy

MOGUL operations ended in 1950 after developing more effective detection methods.⁷ A crashed MOGUL balloon array near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 sparked decades of UFO speculation.⁸

  References

1. afhra.af.mil ↩

2. nsarchive.gwu.edu ↩

3. library.nyu.edu ↩

4. lanl.gov ↩

5. journals.ametsoc.org ↩

6. airandspace.si.edu ↩

7. fas.org ↩

8. archives.gov ↩