“…In reaction to the initial suggestion by Bates [1950] that the upper atmosphere could be studied by the ejection of specific chemicals from rockets, extensive investigations were made of atmospheric winds, temperatures, densities, and deactivation and excitation phenomena by the release of various molecular species in the high sunlit atmosphere at twilight. During the last fifteen years, atmospheric spectra due to the oxides of aluminum and barium have been studied by several investigators [Armstrong, 1963;Authier, 1964;Authier et al, 1964;Rosenberg et al, 1963aRosenberg et al, , b, 1964Johnson, 1965;Golomb and MacLeod, 1966;Golomb et al, 1967Golomb et al, , 1968Low, 1967;Harang, 1968Harang, , 1970Harang and $toffregen, 1969;Rees, 1968Rees, , 1971Simon, 1971; Degen et al, and are yet to be identified either in the atmosphere or in the laboratory. It appears that these infrared bands may be of some ionospheric significance and warrant further search in the upper atmosphere.…”