Viper Dart
Encyclopedia
Viper Dart is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sounding rocket
Sounding rocket
A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into...

 originally developed in 1972. Space Data Corporation (SDC) developed the vehicle as a mean to increase the apogee of the Super Loki boosted PWN-12A dart. The PWN-12A dart is the non-propulsive second stage that contains a ROBINSphere (Radar OBservable INflation Sphere). The ROBINSphere is an inflatable 1 meter diameter radar reflecting balloon.

The Viper IIIA boosted PWN-12A dart has a maximum apogee of 120 km (74.56 mi), a diameter of 0.11 m and a length of 3.40 m.

The Viper II version had a ceiling of 150 km, a diameter of 0.18 m and a length of 3.40 m. This vehicle configurations flew less than 100 missions as a meteorological rocket and last flew in 1988 at White Sands Missile Range, NM..
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