The state administration wanted this technology from the leading school in order to provide artificial rains to Uttar Pradesh’s arid Bundelkhand area.
KANPUR The Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) successfully completed a cloud-seeding test over a small part of the large campus. On Wednesday, a plane took off from the institute’s airfield and flew to a height of 5,000 feet, spraying powder spray among dense clouds, resulting in heavy rain.
The UP government sought this technology from the leading university in order to provide artificial rains to the state’s dry Bundelkhand area. Cloud seeding is the technique of putting various chemical compounds in clouds, such as silver iodide, dry ice, and even table salt, to thicken them and enhance the probability of rainfall.
The experiment was carried out with the approval of the civil aviation regulator, DGCA.
This artificial rain project was driven by Manindra Agrawal, professor of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kanpur. He stated, “Our capabilities in this direction have been successfully tested.”
After the Uttar Pradesh government reached out to help Bundelkhand with artificial rains in 2017, it took IIT-Kanpur six years to make this happen. China has promised to perform cloud seeding in Mahoba for 10.30 lakh per kilometre at the time. However, it refused to share the know-how, and the proposal was cancelled.
