Hopi Dart
Launch vehicle · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
American sounding rocket, flown by NASA Huntsville on aeronomy missions 1963-1964. The Hopi-Dart vehicle consisted of a Hopi III booster as first stage, and an unpowered dart as second stage.
The second stage was an inert dart, 0.035 meters in diameter and 1.128 meters long that contained aluminized Mylar chaff and the payload ejection system. At first stage burnout (2.4 seconds), differential drag caused separation of the first stage from the dart. The dart then coasted to an apogee of 85 kilometers. The payload ejection from the dart was designed to occur at approximately T+ 135 seconds. The Hopi-Dart was launched from a rail attached to an I-Beam structure.
An FPS-16 radar skin tracked the Dart and then the chaff payload from apogee to an altitude of 70 km or loss of signal. Data were obtained by radar printout of time, elevation and azimuth angles, and slant range position, and also by reducing the radar plotting board which was a graphical location of the chaff by altitude, time, and position. Only three of this type system were fired at Cape Kennedy.
Payload: 4.99 kg (11.00 lb) to a 115.8 km altitude.
Related
- Country
- USA
- Launch Sites
- Wallops Island, Cape Canaveral, Tonopah, Cape Canaveral LC43
- Stages
- Hopi 2.4KS5600
- Agency
- RPI
Chronology
22 events
1963 February 28
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart. FAILURE: Failure.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi).
1963 March 27
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart. FAILURE: Failure.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi).
1963 April 25
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart. FAILURE: Failure.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi).
1963 May 9
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 22 km (13 mi).
1963 May 10
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 64 km (39 mi).
1963 June 5
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 63 km (39 mi).
1963 July 18
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 95 km (59 mi).
1963 August 7
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 95 km (59 mi).
1963 August 9
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 93 km (57 mi).
1963 August 22
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1963 August 22
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart. FAILURE: Failure.- Test mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi).
1963 October 29
Launch Site: Tonopah. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1963 October 29
Launch Site: Tonopah. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1963 October 29
Launch Site: Tonopah. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 February 13
18:28 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC43. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 February 13
21:45 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC43. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 February 14
18:30 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC43. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Nation: USA. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 February 14
21:03 GMT - . Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC43. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 October 14
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 October 14
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 November 23
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).
1964 November 23
Launch Site: Wallops Island. LV Family: Hopi. Launch Vehicle: Hopi Dart.- Aeronomy mission - . Nation: USA. Agency: NASA Huntsville. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi).