Abstract
The air ejector filter sampler is a balloon-borne device designed to collect particulate matter from very large volumes (105 ft2) of stratospheric air at altitudes between 50,000 and 130,000 ft. This equipment utilize an ejector pump to pull air through 2 ft2 of Institute of Paper Chemistry (IPC) #1478 filter paper at rates on the order of 1000 cfm. Use of this unit has permitted an extension of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission operational sampling program to higher attitudes than previously allowed by battery powered electro-mechanical systems. Performance of the sampler during a successful operational series conducted in 1965 by the U.S. Air Force at San Angelo, Texas, and Eielson AFB, Alaska, has confirmed pre-program estimates of system reliability.
