Dropsonde disassembled... there have been some questions so here is a little more info. They are made by @VaisalaGroup for both USAF & NOAA #HurricaneHunters. About the size of a Pringles can and weighs 350g or 12oz. This one just happens to be a dud.

Drogue chute end has a black ribbon wrapped around which has something to do with chute deployment. Descent speed is altitude dependent but around 35-50 feet per second.

More or less what a falling dropsonde would look like if we dropped them onto a sunny beach instead of into hurricane. Drogue chute has mesh sections which allow it to inflate into a sorta cube shape. They come in a variety of festive colors.

Bottom / sensor end has a cap which is removed before dropping from the aircraft. They are useful for a variety of things like propping up couches missing a leg or as turbulence indicators as shown by @TheAstroNick.

Better pic of some of the sensors... dropsondes measures temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction from drop point all the way to the surface. Data is relayed back to the aircraft‘s Airborne Vertical Atmospheric Profiling System (AVAPS).

Data port on side of dropsonde along with the little red tab which, when removed, turns it on. Guys in the back do some sorta preflight/predrop stuff with them, not my area. Battery life is a couple hours.

Circuit board inside with various bits and pieces, the dropsonde uses GPS to measure wind speed and direction. Silver ribbon looking thing is the antenna for transmitting data back to aircraft AVAPS. Batteries are a couple of lithium 123 cells.

Dropsondes are a consumable item and are not recovered, they sink and/or are eaten by Cthulhu. For detailed information check out the data sheet from @VaisalaGroup.

https://www.vaisala.com/sites/default/files/documents/RD41-Datasheet-B211706EN.pdf