# interesting Meteorological Rocket

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#### bobkrech

##### Well-Known Member
Actually it was probably much cheaper than a conventional solid propellant rocket. Every soda fountain in the '50s and '60s had a liquid CO2 cylinder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricketsonde is a pretty good reference with pictures as the Cambridge Research Lab report is not digitized and available on line.

The bulk price of liquid CO2 in 2014 was $0.08 per pound in ton quantities. In the '60 it was probably closer to$0.02 per pound. The bulk price of acetone in 201 was $0.60 per pound in ton quantities. In the '60 it was probably closer to$0.12 per pound. The propellant load was most likely about 3 to 4 pounds so I'm guessing the fuel cost was ~\$0.35 per launch which was only a little more than the price of a gallon of gas back then.

Since the rocket is shipped unfueled, it was cheap to make and ship. Since the rocket was recoverable, it could probably be reflown as well.