| OCR Text |
Show First of Two Major Experimental Blasts Detonated Near Cedar City ground shock enviroment near) explosions detonated on rock, information needed in order to design various underground installations. The fact that the experiments are being conducted con-ducted here does not Indicate that any such underground Installations In-stallations are being contemplated contem-plated for this area, but merely mere-ly that ideal conditions are found here for such experiments. The 100-ton blast fired Tues-day Tues-day was delayed for two hours waiting for ideal wind velocity velo-city conditions aloft, and then was delayed for another hour when an unidentified small airplane flew into the blast area less than' a minute before be-fore blast off time. Thus required re-quired a hold, and the hours' delay while instruments were i chocked and re-set for proper recording of all phases of the The first of two major experimental ex-perimental ' detonations to be fired near Cedar City this fall was successfully fired Tuesday at 4 p. m., under the "Mind Shaft" research series that has been in preparation for approximately ap-proximately eight months. The experiments are being conducted in the Three Peaks area northwest of Cedar City, a site selected because of the wide expansion of granite rock outcropping combined with isolation is-olation from populated area, and other physical advantages. advant-ages. Purposes of the experiments is to study the air blast and ! ' ' I'''''''' ' ':!" '' ''"'''' 1 JliiMI III 111 1 t, '. . i ". "., 1 experiment. The blast Tuesday was den-otated den-otated a few feet above ground level, and a second shot of similar velocity is contemplate ed in early November. A tremendous amount of scientific equipment, recording every phase of air blast and ground shock was used in the blast, under the supervision of an extremely highly trained train-ed group of scientists, who had been engaged in the experiments experi-ments since early spring. Hundreds of recording in- struments had been installed and were used in measuring' the tests by a team of about 100 top research scientists gat-hered gat-hered from all parts of the United States, both military and civilian personnel selected select-ed for their particular knowledge know-ledge in the various facets of the experiments. Number of personnel involved invol-ved in the eight month-long experiment has varied from a few men to the about 100 who have been on the site for the past month, depending on the work underway at any given time. Prime difference of the shot Tuesday and the one scheduled schedul-ed for November 12, will be location of the charge. While the one fired Tuesday was above ground, the November shot will be at ground level, or in fact about nine Inches below the surface of the rock. Announcements will be made later of exact time of the November No-vember shot. It is reported that after the November shot the experiment will be closed down for the winter, but that it is expected that experimental work will t -start here again in he early .; " ipring, with one or perhaps ' ' two major shots in June . or July, 1969. When the second blast is completed data and instrumental instru-mental recordings will be compiled com-piled for an evaluation of the experiments in connection with the overall military underground un-derground installations of the country. The Mine Shaft series is being be-ing conducted under the general gen-eral direction of the Defense Atomic Support Agency, Wash, ington, D. C. Participating organizations or-ganizations include The Boeing Boe-ing Company, Seattle, Wash.; the Air Force Weapons Laboratory, Lab-oratory, Kirkland Air Force Base, N. M.; Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif.; Illinois Institute of Technology Technol-ogy Research Institute, Chicago, Chica-go, 111.; Ballasic Research Laboratories, La-boratories, Aberdeen, Maryland; Mary-land; the Denver Mining Research Re-search Center U. S. Bureau of Mines, Denver, Colorado. Technical Tech-nical and operational management manage-ment of the series is under the direction of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, Vieks-. burg, Mississippi. Officials of the vast and im. portant experiments have beenr highly pleased with the cooperation coop-eration and treatment they have recived from local officials offi-cials and citizens generally, and have indicated that their stay in Cedar City has beert most pleasant and profitable. - .'L.,TfjJ7-J";l j!"'jj-j'"!T,!";"'rT';' if 1 " ' i ' i m ; s,,1'1 '' . ' " ",."! ; w. J PICTURE SEQUENCE. These three pictures give a sequence to the 100 ton dynamite blast Tuesday near Cedar City. Top picture illustrates initial fireball followed by the development of the dust cloud above the valley floor. |
