k program of pressure measurements with rockets over White Sands, New Mexico, and over the equator has given values for atmospheric pressure, density, and temperature from the ground .up to 160 km above sea level. The data have been obtained from about a dozen rocket flights at White Sands, New Mexico, latitude 32 ø north, longitude 106 ø west; and from one flight at th• equator, longitude 160 ø west. Measurements were made in every month except April, June, and July. One rocket was flow• at midnight, while the others were between 09 h 00 m and 19 h 00 m local time. Except for one daytime flight at White Sands, all the pressure data agree within the experimental errors. The fundamental data are pressures measured on the nose tips, nose cones, and tail sections of V-2, Viking, and Aerobee rockets. From these measurements, atmospheric pressures, densities, and temperatures have been deduced. The pressure at 160 km is 2 X 10 -6 mm of Itg, and the density is 1.5 X 10 -6 gm/m 3. The temperature reaches a maximum of 270øK at 50 kin, a minimum of 190øI• at 80 km, and increases to about 500øK at 160 kin. INTRODUCTION Pressure, density, and temperature experiments were conducted by this Laboratory during the last five years in V-2, Viking, and Aerobee rockets [see 1 of "References" at end of paper]. The instrumentation consisted of various pressure gages which were sensitive from one atmosphere down to 10 -6 mm of I-Ig. Pressure gages were located near the rocket tail (Fig. 1) to measure ambient pressure up !o about 90 kin, and on the nose to measure ambient density. At altitudes above 100 kin, the pressure and density were generally deduced from pressures measured on the nose cone. Temperatures were calculated from pressure, density, and altitude data. The first pressure and temperature data [2] were obtained in October, 1946, up to an altitude of 70 kin, wkile in March, 1947, data [3] were obtained through the E layer of the ionosphere. The measurements were continued in an effort to 59 6O R. J. HA VENS, R. T. KOLL, AND H. E. LA. GOW , M FIG. 1--Location of pressure gages (At altitudes below 80 km, ambient pressures were meas•

The density and pressure of the atmosphere from 90 to 220 km above White Sands, New Mexico, were determined from the Viking 7 rocket flight on 7 August 1951 at 11:00 a.m. MST. A Philips ionization gage was used to measure pressure and pressure changes on the side of the nose cone of the rolling rocket. Measured pressure in the 90 to 105 km region were corrected for velocity ram and residual gas, and were approximately one‐fourth of the Rocket Panel values. The derived pressure of 3×10−7 mm Hg at 220 km is twice the corresponding Rocket Panel value. Densities were measured from 120 to 185 km and at 220 km. The 220 km density value of 9×10−8 gm/m3 agrees with the Rocket Panel value. However, the density values at the lower altitudes are one‐fourth to one‐half those of the Rocket Panel. These lower density values in the 100 to 130 km region are in good agreement with values obtained from X‐ray absorption experiments. Scale heights, (RT/Mg), derived from the density data above 140 km, are approximately a factor of two higher than Rocket Panel values.

The IGY artificial earth satellite, 1959 Eta (Vanguard III), carried several sensors for determining the environmental conditions of the satellite. Among these sensors was a microphone for detecting individual impacts of interplanetary dust particles onto selected portions of the metallic shell of the satellite. In addition to contributing to the knowledge gained from direct measurements of interplanetary dust particles with rockets and other satellites about the model average mass and space distributions of small interplanetary dust particles, the dust‐particle sensor on 1959 Eta has revealed an interval of unusual interplanetary dust particle activity. This letter is a report of the important details of the observed interplanetary dust‐particle event, together with some tentative conclusions reached while analyzing the data.

Profiles of atmospheric pressure, density, and temperature for the region from 20 to 110 km above Fort Churchill, Canada, were computed from the data obtained during a single fall‐day rocket flight. The temperature profile had a major maximum at 58 km, a secondary maximum at 82 km, and several minor maxima in the region from 20 to 55 km. During the same flight a horizontal‐wind profile was obtained in the region from 80 to 115 km. Average wind speed was 125 m/sec, and the maximum wind speed was 250 m/sec at 115 km. The method of measurement, the problems encountered, and the results are discussed. Methods are prescribed for the use of the pitot‐static tube for accurate synoptic atmospheric structure measurements from 20 to 80 km and for the measurement of semidiurnal pressure variations in the same region.

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