Vijay was very impressed. "Bala Gangadhar, would you be interested in joining the Gagana Aerospace Research Institute?" He was exactly the type of person the aerospace research institute needed—not theoretical physicists who theorized flight all day long.
"Wha—"
Vijay imdiately stopped him. "Don’t give a reply imdiately, just think about it. You have plenty of ti."
"Just know that if your life goal is to make machines that can fly, this is the research institute for you."
"You can use the Empire’s resources for your research, and once the research is successful, you can buy its patent rights for your design firm. In the future, you can manufacture your own flying machines if they are applicable for the civilian sector, upon which the law that design firms cannot manufacture military products will be invalidated."
Bala Gangadhar’s eyes lit up, but he rembered His Majesty’s suggestion. Even though his heart was beating like a runaway horse and he wanted to agree imdiately, he finally held back with great self-control; he did not give any reply.
Vijay nodded his head in satisfaction.
"Alright, forget about it. Tell about the considerations you have made for aerodynamic and structural aspects."
"Yes, Your Majesty. First, for spin stabilization, I ca up with a design called offset exhaust nozzles, which induce rotation for a straight flight.
Second, I have designed six different aerodynamic fins strategically attached in various places on the firework in order to attain the most efficient aerodynamic flow of air.
And third, the weight has been distributed for optimal stability throughout the three stages of the firework."
"Very good!" Vijay praised without holding back. Such detailed consideration was really rare for soone with such little experience.
"Have you calculated the drag force?"
Bala Gangadhar imdiately beca confused. "Drag force...?" The word lingered in his mind for a long ti. His eyes suddenly lit up as he vaguely understood what His Majesty was asking, which opened up a new door for him to reduce the uncertainty in the project, but then they suddenly dimd. "No, Your Majesty. I don’t know how to calculate it. I’ll have to look into it."
’So they still winged it, ha. Well, figures. I cannot expect them to calculate all the variables in their launch of the rocket after all, since it is not even possible in the 21st century where supercomputers were available.’
"Forget it, it’s nothing," Vijay comforted, but Bala Gangadhar’s thoughts were running wildly.
Vijay left him alone, and he fell into deep thought. ’Roughly calculating, taking the formula—half of the drag coefficient multiplied by air density, which I can approximately take as 1.25 kilograms per ter cubed at sea level, multiplied by velocity squared, multiplied by the cross-sectional area—the approximate total drag force at peak velocity should be around 12 Newtons. It’s not bad. Impressive, rather... oh right, 12 Kanadas, I keep forgetting it.’
In fact, Vijay had not ordered the people who were preparing the test books to fully plagiarize Newton’s laws of motion that were yet to be invented. Instead, multiple concepts summarized by Newton were indeed ntioned by Rishi Kanada in his book Vaisheshika Sutra in the year 600 BCE, where he clearly ntioned the existence of inertia along with an early concept of motion and force. He also ca up with the atomic theory. He summarized that there are two types of motion, naly natural motion, which could be considered as the freefall of any object or motion due to gravity, and the other as motion due to applied force. He also suggested the continuity of motion, where motion continues unless opposed by another force, once again hinting at inertia along with other chanical concepts.
These scattered discoveries of Rishi were extracted from a vast ocean of his works containing science, taphysics, and theology and were summarized and, with his involvent, were made into three different laws of motion very similar to Newton’s laws of motion.
Vijay finally ca to a safe distance, several ters away, on the other side of the hill-like structure that had been built for the testing and huddled behind with the reserchers. The whole situation was giving him the vibe of Oppenheir before the atomic bomb test.
"Permission for ignition, Your Majesty," Raj Gopal Varma asked.
Vijay resolutely nodded his head. "Go on!"
The signal was passed, and the control center, pulling the fuse a few hundred ters away from the firework, lit it.
Vijay could see the small fire snake sizzle through the plain at a very fast speed. Finally, with a loud sound of exhaust very similar to rocket engines in his previous life, the firework slowly lifted into the air.
Vijay’s eyes brightened, and the smile on his face couldn’t be concealed. As the image of the rocket reflected on the eyeballs of Vijay, he felt like he was falling in love with these magnificent machines all over again.
’Zoop!’
Within the amazed eyes of Vijay, the first stage was separated. After a split second delay, the rocket ignited again, going upward at a faster speed.
"Hey Ram, how did you achieve the separation chanism?" Vijay inquired, curious.
Hey Ram, looking up at the sky, replied without looking back, "Your Majesty, I used interlocking tal rings to hold the stages together along with a controlled ignition after separation during the stage transitions."
"You haven’t used rcury fulminate as the trigger, have you?"
"At first, we tried, Your Majesty, but it was too sensitive and too dangerous to be used in the fireworks, so I opted for a good old gunpowder prir."
"Very good."
After the second stage was separated and the rocket was on its final stretch in its last eight seconds of its life, Vijay suddenly rembered what the firework the group of four invented was used for.
"Rajgopal, how far is this thing visible? Have you done the calculations, or have you conducted practical tests?"
"Your Majesty, using the formula: maximum visible distance is equal to the square root of two multiplied by the radius of the Earth—that is approximately six million three hundred and seventy-one thousand ters—multiplied by the observer’s height above the ground (100m),
We obtained a value of 35.7 kiloters."
"It is highly theoretical, Your Majesty, but we can confirm that the light is visible in normal conditions at least 10 kiloters away. aning, if a ssage has to be sent between two places 100 kiloters apart, only 10 of these devices would be enough."
"Even if this technology is used from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and the infrastructure is laid down, it would only require 300 different stations, Your Majesty."
Vijay nodded, but he was noncommittal because he knew the cost of each machine would be astronomical—not to ntion that the dium through which communication is done is a disposable item, and this disposable item was the most costly part of the communication. This technology could never be applied in the civilian space. Even in military cases, it could only be used for backbone ergency communication during war, not at other tis.
However, if the payload of the rocket was an explosive capable of detonating walls and infrastructure instead of a simple chemical mixture that produced colorful light, Vijay would have the world’s first missile in an actual sense in his hands. Not to ntion, most of the technology used in the so-called firework was highly applicable to larger rocket vehicles.
Vijay thought about many things in his mind, but all of it lasted only a split second. The next mont, a beautiful green light spread across the sky like a warm embrace, trying to hug the Earth.
After the demonstration, Vijay finally t up with Akhil, who was running late since he was on duty and had not expected His Majesty to arrive so quickly.
"Apologies, Your Majesty."
"No, it’s alright. It is my fault for calling you to co during your service."
"Anyway, I have just seen the demonstration, and I have to say it was srizing and mind-blowing, to say the least."
"I give my word, I will talk with the Minister of Defense to have the communication device you guys have invented be the backbone communication network for the Bharatiya military in ergency situations."
"But as far as I’m concerned, the technologies that have been designed and invented in this research are more valuable than whatever money you’ll be making as a royalty deal after the communication devices are manufactured."
"So, let make you an offer—sell the technology research and manufacturing rights to Takshashila Institute of Human Exploration, and I will authorize all three design institutes that participated in the research to get preferential rights to purchase any technology that cos out of Takshashila Institute of Human Exploration, as far as implenting those technologies in the civilian field is concerned."
"What do you think?"
Akhil was lost for words—this was like a pie in the sky. How could he reject this offer? Not only would he be making a lot of profits from the sale, but he would also gain a prominent advantage over other research firms or manufacturing companies regarding technologies produced by the Takshashila Institute of Human Exploration. Although the institute had not yet achieved anything particularly notable, he definitely did not believe it would remain the sa in the future—especially since the governnt had a lot of surplus money in its hands.
"I am more than happy to agree, Your Majesty, but I cannot speak on behalf of Mr. Manoj Reddy, Mr. Balagangadhar, and their research firms. However, I will relay the ssage."
"Much appreciated. Well then, I’ll take my leave, Akhil. And good luck."
As Akhil watched Vijay disappear from his view, he clenched his fist and scread out loud,
"YES!!!"
Vijay, who was getting onto a carriage, imdiately paused. A smile appeared on his face, and he shook his head in amusent.
"Let’s go back ho, Kattapa."
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