Attempts to fire 'sugary' rockets to facilitate cloud seeding turn sour

SINDHUDURG: Monday morning wasn't the same for this serene village of Achirne in rural Maharashtra. Located in the picturesque Sahyadri mountain range, hundreds of villagers gathered to witness a civilian rocket launch powered by fuel made of sugar, yes, you heard right, sugar.
Approximately 1,500 people, primarily school and higher secondary students, braved the rains and humidity that followed, to patiently witness a spectacle of sorts in the green valley of Vaibhavwadi taluka, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
The organizers had planned two launches at their make-shift launch pad - three metal rods buried in the soil of an even terrain located between sugarcane fields and the mountain range. The first launch was of a smaller rocket that was fired at 2pm for the sake of the students, who were forced to watch the show from nearly 500m from the launch site. The sugar-powered rocket, which was approximately two feet long, was propelled to around 1km into the sky where it burst and succumbed to gravity.
Thrilled students in the crowd then rushed to the falling wreckage to grab pieces of history. This demo, with the small rocket, was a confirmation launch of earlier attempts at Rajkot and Kanpur.
The big test was yet to come as the brain behind the rocket, scientist Kiran Naik, had secretly challenged the villagers that he would write to NASA as soon as the bigger five-foot long rocket notched heights of 4.5km. Unfortunately after a prolonged prep session, the bigger rocket launched at 5pm never took off, but rather exploded at its base, as metal parts of the propeller and the rocket sprayed all over the place. A seemingly dejected Naik then walked away from the site and later explained that it was a technical snag due to a default in the welding of the metal rods that were used as the launch pad.
"It was a day of mixed emotions. The first one worked but the other did not. But, we will not give up. I will continue to experiment in more remote areas until we succeed. There is a lot of promise and if it works, it will be the most cost-effective and eco-friendly way to induce cloud seeding and create artificial rainfall for many regions in the country that are facing draught," said Naik, chancellor of International Indian University, in Gujarat.
The NGO Kokan Seva Manch, was instrumental in getting Naik to experiment with his project in the Konkan region of South-west India. The primary aim of the project is to aid the agriculture industry and build interest among youngsters about space research.
"Presently, the goal is to achieve the highest distances we can and later these rockets will be equipped with additional tools to control rainfall and prevent a drought or flood situation. Where there is extensive rainfall it will be equipped with tools that will create cloud drift and where there is scarcity it will help create variation in pressure to condense the fleeting clouds in the vicinity and cause artificial rainfall for drought hit areas," Iqbal Vanoo, said president of Kokan Seva Manch.
Though the organizers claim that locals residing in villages within a radius of 8km were alerted and educated about the project for over two months, many residents gathered had no clue as to what the 'sugar scientist' was up to. Over a dozen police personnel kept the anxious crowd in check and vacated the farmers from the neighbouring areas before the launch.
Another youngster chose to see the event in a positive light, she said, "If it works it will be wonderful because we will be growing sugarcane which will be later turned to sugar that will fuel the rocket to create artificial rain which in turn will help us get a bounty crop. It's the perfect cycle of self-sustainability."