MR-12 geophysical rockets are used to study the upper layer of the earth’s atmosphere. The number “12” refers to the altitude at which the rocket is designed to fly — 120 km, although it can go much higher. The steel flaps that covered the instruments in the rocket head are partially cut out and replaced by plexiglass in the museum’s exhibit. This allows the complex structure of the instrumentation to be clearly seen.

The Arctic has been called the “kitchen of the planet’s weather”. In the circumpolar regions, where the ionospheric boundary is closer to the Earth, cosmic ray research can be done. Thanks to the slow change of day and night, the auroras, the intrusion of solar radiation streams into the atmosphere and magnetic storms, unique scientific experiments can be carried out there.

Numerous launches of MR-12 rockets have helped to study the composition and properties of the upper atmosphere. The collection of such data is needed for the development of meteorology, the military-industrial complex, rocket and space technology, aviation and radio communications.

The MR-12 rocket head was exhibited at the All-Union Exhibition of Economic Achievements in 1966 in the Hydrometeorological Service of the USSR pavilion. Later, it was transferred to the Museum of the History of Obninsk, since all hydrometeorological instruments of the rocket were designed and manufactured at the Central Design Bureau of this city.