The pressure, density, and temperature of the Earth's atmosphere to 160 kilometers

Abstract

A 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° north, longitude 106° west; and from one flight at the equator, longitude 160° west. Measurements were made in every month except April, June, and July. One rocket was flown at midnight, while the others were between 09h 00m and 19h 00m 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 2×10−6 mm of Hg, and the density is 1.5×10−6 gm/m3. The temperature reaches a maximum of 270°K at 50 km, a minimum of 190°K at 80 km, and increases to about 500°K at 160 km.