Rocket, Sounding, Loki-Dart
name: label: Manufacturer
content: Bendix Aviation Corp.
notes: label: Summary
content: The Loki-Dart was the sounding rocket version of the Loki surface-to-air spin-stabilized missile briefly used as a barrage weapon by the U.S. Army in 1949. The Loki is small, light, but powerful for its size and very inexpensive. It was therefore adapted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and State University of Iowa for upper-atmospheric sounding and meteorological work.
label: Summary
content: Loki-Darts were designed to measure temperature and wind velocity up to a height of 65 kilometers (40 miles). The Loki burned out at a 1,524-meter (5,000 feet) altitude, then dropped off while the Dart inert payload section continued on a ballistic trajectory up to peak altitude and conducted its measurements. This object was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
label: Alternate Name
content: Loki-Dart Sounding Rocket
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
label: Location
content: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
label: Exhibit Station
content: Rockets & Missiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A19750184000
objectType: label: Type
content: CRAFT-Missiles & Rockets
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Loki body, aluminum alloy; nozzle, steel; Dart, steel.
label: Dimensions
content: Overall (Loki): 6 ft. 6 1/2 in. long x 4 in. diameter x 6 in. wing span (199.39 x 10.16 x 15.24cm)
label: Dimensions
content: Other (Dart): 1 ft. 8 1/2 in. long x 1 3/4 in. diameter x 3 1/4 in. wing span (52.07 x 4.45 x 8.26cm)