The Keep Cool Podcast E63: Literally making It rain with Augustus Doricko of Rainmaker
Apr 8, 2024
Augustus Doricko, Founder and CEO of Rainmaker, explores revolutionary cloud-seeding technologies. He discusses the unpredictable history of cloud seeding and the recent breakthroughs that validate its effectiveness. Augustus highlights innovative approaches, including drone delivery and novel nucleation agents, minimizing costs while enhancing yield for agricultural needs and water management. The conversation also delves into the importance of tackling complex problems and the value of inspiring technical creativity, all while addressing public perception and environmental safety.
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Flares Are Inefficient For Seeding
- Traditional flares waste mass, emit heat, and produce interfering smoke, reducing nucleation efficiency.
- Rainmaker uses non-burning dispersal and new form factors to increase the fraction of active seeding material delivered.
Silver Iodide Is The Baseline
- Silver iodide remains the academic baseline and is ecologically negligible at aerial seeding scales versus natural soil silver.
- Rainmaker still explores more inert compounds for maximal safety at very large scales.
Confluence Of Technologies Unlocks Seeding
- Cloud seeding succeeds now because multiple unrelated technologies matured together: radar, drones, particle chemistry, and software.
- That technological confluence enables practical, measurable, lower-cost weather modification.