The reusable Cricket, often called the “meteorologist’s handyman,” weighs only 2.5 kilograms (5½ pounds), 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds) of which is propellant. Recovered by parachute after each flight, Cricket costs less than $10 to refuel.

The Cricket’s .34-kilogram (three-fourth pound) instrument package zooms to 975 meters (3200 feet) in only 12 seconds, gathering data on air temperature, pressure and wind direction.

One of the rocket’s most noteworthy features is that it uses “cold” propellants. Compressed carbon dioxide to which acetone is added is pumped into a storage tank in the rocket at a pressure of 56.3 kilograms per square centimeter (800 pounds per square inch). Release of the pressurized mixture gives Cricket its thrust. Cricket is fired from its launcher by a separate charge of carbon dioxide in order to preserve the rocket’s fuel for flight.

This rocket was developed by Texaco Experiment, Inc., for the U.S. Air Force’s Cambridge Research Laboratory.

The Cricket is from Texaco, Inc.