Shoot clouds, prevent rain cost 1 billion USD?

Before the news, it would take US $ 1 billion if Hanoi shot clouds, prevented rain in the celebration of 1,000 years of Thang Long-Hanoi, Dr. Tran Duy Binh, former Director of the Institute of Hydrometeorology and Environment Research (Ministry TN - MT), showing the actual price for preventing rain much lower.

China shot the name of the rain during the 2008 Olympics. (Photo: universetoday.com)

Although before that, on the afternoon of 10.8, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung agreed with the proposal of Hanoi Chairman Nguyen The Thao not to shoot clouds, prevent rain to save costs, but Dr. Binh also said that 'the price It is not a problem, but it is important that we have no time ' .

'If you want to shoot clouds to break the rain, it takes 6 months to 1 year to prepare the defense and security procedures, because not every plane can fly. Meanwhile, the time from now until the festival is only over 70 days. Not to mention we don't have technology, we have to import and hire foreign partners to do it completely , 'said Dr. Binh.

A former initiator of artificial rain since 1998, Dr. Binh said: to shoot clouds, we use a rocket to fire chemicals on the clouds to cause rain to rain first, or after the time. the celebration of the great ceremony.Or even if it is nearly impossible to break the rain, it will move the clouds, causing rain in other areas.Rain prevention technology is not new because China and Russia used a lot.

'In 1957, Vietnam was also supported by China to successfully test rain in the Northern Delta. Compared to the mechanism of creating artificial rain, breaking clouds to prevent rain is not more complicated. However, Vietnam did not intend to develop this technology, ' said Dr. Binh.

From an economic perspective, according to Dr. Binh, the figure of 1 billion USD to shoot rain is 'highly unimaginable' . In 2000, Vietnam used to carry out a pilot project to do artificial rain, using airplanes and chemicals, the total time was up to hundreds of hours of flying, but it was only 500,000 USD. If calculating slippage, at this time, the cost of 'chasing clouds' will not reach 1 billion USD.

The price for shooting rain clouds can also be referenced by Beijing Meteorological Information: At the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the city fired 1,104 rockets to block a cloud band in the area. Stadium area of ​​the Bird's Nest during the opening of the Olympics (21 points shot, from 16 - 23 hours on August 8, 2008).The total cost to buy silver iodine is 12.75 USD / 1 tube;rocket of $ 290/1 is only about half a million USD (according to Xinhua.net and beijing2008.cn).

According to Dr. Binh, the reason China and Russia consider preventing rain or creating rain is normal and done regularly because of available technology.So, whenever necessary, there are almost a few more moves that they can do.For Vietnam, we only have the right to receive technology and have specialized aircraft, fireworks . 'Suppose there are tens of billions of dollars, but if not active in technology, it is not always done ' , said Dr. Binh.