What does LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres reveal?

An April 7, 1949 security-inspection memo from the 1100th USAF Special Reporting Group addresses physical security at Sandia Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The file routes through the AFSWP Classified Documents Library at Headquarters, Sandia Base. The Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico examined eighteen particle collections taken at…

Which agency produced LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres?

LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres is a primary-source record from Department of War. Its original classification was SECRET.

What programs and topics appear in LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres?

LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres references Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP), Project Grudge, green orbs, discs, fireballs and copper residue.

What does LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres say, in its own words?

"jeep radios are now installed in jeeps." (source p. 1).

← Files

DISCLOSURE / FILE

LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres

DOW-UAP-D017, UAP Reported at Sandia Base, 1948-1950

A 116-page Department of War file (AFSWP and U.S. Air Force) documenting 1948-1950 sightings of green orbs, discs, and fireballs around Sandia Base, New Mexico, plus the copper-particle investigations that fed into Project Grudge.

Brief

The file collects records from the Armed Forces Special Weapons Program, the post-Manhattan Project successor agency, and the U.S. Air Force concerning a string of unidentified-object reports near Sandia Base, Albuquerque, between 1948 and 1950. The technical core is a set of investigations by the University of New Mexico's Institute of Meteoritics into copper-bearing particles collected from the air after a fireball passed over Socorro at 8:26 p.m. on July 24, 1949, including an airborne sampling flight aboard a B-25 from Kirtland Field. Investigators logged copper counts, cobalt spheres twelve microns across, and nickel traces, but concluded the link between the particles and the fireball was inconclusive. The file's description states it contains 209 reported sightings and that some of these inquiries became a basis for Project Grudge.

Metadata

Agency: Department of War
Release: 5/22/26
Incident: 1948-1950
Location: New Mexico
Type: PDF • .pdf
Length: 116 pages
Classification: SECRET
Programs: Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP), Project Grudge
Tags: green orbs, discs, fireballs, copper residue, cobalt spheres, Sandia Base, New Mexico, 1949, Project Grudge

Key points

An April 7, 1949 security-inspection memo from the 1100th USAF Special Reporting Group addresses physical security at Sandia Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico.p.1
The file routes through the AFSWP Classified Documents Library at Headquarters, Sandia Base.p.3
The Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico examined eighteen particle collections taken at nine locations and found a large number of copper-bearing particles in one collection (R-104L) taken on Highway 84, seventeen miles north of Highway 66.p.4
A fireball was reported over Socorro, New Mexico at 8:26 p.m. on July 24, 1949, prompting systematic airborne-particle collection using impactment equipment from the New Mexico School of Mines.p.5
Investigators used a glycerin-gelatin adhesive with rubeanic acid to identify copper, nickel, and cobalt in collected particles, with copper counts tabulated across three size groups.p.5
A copper-count table records collections at Socorro from July 25 to August 1, 1949, reduced to particles per 102 liters of air.p.7
Three particles in the July 26 collection gave strong cobalt indications and were apparently perfect spheres twelve microns in diameter; two nickel-indicating particles were also found.p.8
An airborne collection was attempted in a B-25 from Kirtland Field on August 8, 1949 at a maximum altitude of about 23,000 feet; the few copper indications appeared to be of surface origin.p.9
Investigators proposed mounting particle-collection equipment in an aircraft able to ascend above 40,000 feet to intercept material along a meteor trajectory after future events.p.9

Verbatim

jeep radios are now installed in jeeps.
p.1
it was decided to make systematic collections
p.5
identification of nickel and cobalt.
p.5

Most interesting

Per the file description, the collection contains 209 reported sightings of green orbs, discs, and fireballs near Sandia Base between 1948 and 1950.
The investigating agency, AFSWP, was the direct post-World War II successor to the Manhattan Project, which placed the U.S. nuclear-weapons custodial establishment at the center of these sighting reports.
Scientists treated the fireballs as a physical-evidence problem, attempting to chemically sample the air for copper, cobalt, and nickel particles rather than only logging eyewitness accounts.
Three cobalt-bearing particles recovered on July 26, 1949 were described as apparently perfect spheres twelve microns in diameter, a form investigators called quite unique in their experience.
The file description states some of these investigations became a basis for Project Grudge, which gathered unidentified-flying-object reports from other military installations also represented in the collection.

Cross-references

PDFDepartment of War Disc Intake, 1948Department of War
VIDF/A-18 FLIR UAP NORTHCOM 2022Department of War
PDFTwo Round White-Hot UAPs at 240 KnotsDepartment of War
VIDYellow Sea Spherical Infrared Clip January 2023Department of War
VIDINDOPACOM Ten-Minute Infrared Three Segments Shape ChangeDepartment of War

Cited in

FINDINGSandia fireball investigators found copper particles and cobalt spheres.War.gov May 22nd 2026
TAKEAWAYThe Nuclear-Site Threadp.5War.gov May 22nd 2026

Related research

PAPERThe New Science of Unidentified Aerospace-Undersea Phenomena (UAP)Knuth et al. · 2025
PAPERThe Prospect of Executive Branch UAP Secrecy: The Harm to Congress and Potential RemediesSkafish · 2024
PAPERAn environmental analysis of public UAP sightings and sky view potentialMedina et al. · 2023

Common questions

What is LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres?: A 116-page Department of War file (AFSWP and U.S. Air Force) documenting 1948-1950 sightings of green orbs, discs, and fireballs around Sandia Base, New Mexico, plus the copper-particle investigations that fed into Project Grudge.
What does LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres reveal?: An April 7, 1949 security-inspection memo from the 1100th USAF Special Reporting Group addresses physical security at Sandia Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The file routes through the AFSWP Classified Documents Library at Headquarters, Sandia Base. The Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico examined eighteen particle collections taken at…
Which agency produced LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres?: LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres is a primary-source record from Department of War. Its original classification was SECRET.
When is LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres dated?: LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres is dated 1948-1950 (documents dated 1949). It was disclosed 2026-05-22.
What programs and topics appear in LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres?: LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres references Armed Forces Special Weapons Program (AFSWP), Project Grudge, green orbs, discs, fireballs and copper residue.
What does LaPaz Green Fireball Case Yields Cobalt Spheres say, in its own words?: "jeep radios are now installed in jeeps." (source p. 1).

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