Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

In the meantime

Simhasana Bhavana, Imperial Capital Bangalore, Akhand Bharatiya Empire

Vijay’s eyes widened; he almost thought he was dreaming when he saw the report in front of him. A few months ago, when he saw the research topic picked by Akhil for his brand-new research institute, he was looking forward to it and was very supportive of it, especially since Hey Ram, one of the brightest minds in the empire, unexpectedly took a keen interest in the project and participated in the research.

However, as time went on, the research took a drastic turn in an unknown direction. Even Manoj Reddy, the top ballistics expert of the empire, was recruited by Akhil by promising him a chief researcher spot in the research team, along with patent-sharing rights between the design firms and a spot in the royalty deal if the project goes into manufacturing for the military.

In the end, Vijay was confused. After the project welcomed Manoj Reddy and Bala Gangadhar, a name to which Vijay hadn’t paid much attention, the security level seemed to have stepped up, making it tedious for Vijay to find out what was happening with the help of the Intelligence Departments. If he wanted to know so badly, he could have done targeted espionage, by which the results would have surely been achieved. But since Manjunatha Research Firm is a trusted research firm that is permitted to even participate in top-secret research, like the research of the new generation of weaponry for the empire, he was not curious enough about what the result would be. At the end of the day, it would still be only a communication system based around fireworks, but looking at the report now, he did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"After Gagana Aerospace had been established, apart from doing the theoretical work, those researchers had not even come up with a model of a vehicle capable of leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. But these guys, in order to make a firework reach a kilometre vertically, have come up with a firework that could even be called a miniature missile or a rocket, with all the mature aerodynamic design and staged ignition system they are using."

"Hehe," he chuckled in amusement.

"Ganesh, immediately ready my carriage. I’ll see this thing for myself."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

---

Nearly a day’s journey later

Vijay met up with Raj Gopal Varma, Manoj Reddy, Bala Gangadhar, and finally Hey Ram at the secret research and testing facility of Sri Manjunatha Research Firm.

Vijay immediately congratulated Akhil and the researchers for their achievement. "I have to say, all of you guys have absolutely outdone yourselves, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and what is not."

His face was beaming with joy. "I have to say, if you can prove what you have claimed, all of you deserve at least a small promotion in your nobility."

These words shocked everyone. Even Kattappa, who was following as a security guard, raised his eyebrows and then looked at the researchers with amazement. Personally, he couldn’t achieve any merit points since the job he had to do was completely hidden from the eyes of the ENEC department’s system. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t know the value of what His Majesty had just promised.

You have to know that Hey Ram and Naveen, despite their participation in the revolutionary Atmospheric Steam Engine project, had not had their nobility rank increased by even a level.

Well, a few of the reasons for that are that their nobility ranks are already very high, and for them to rank up, the merit required is a lot more. The other reason is that His Majesty was the main head of the research, leaving them very little merit. But still, this goes to prove how valuable merit and nobility rank are in the Bharatiya Empire.

Rajgopal Varma and Bala Gangadhar couldn’t hold back their joy anymore and broke out with smiles. However, the situation was different with their fellow chief researchers. After the excitement passed away, Hey Ram fell into deep thought.

’Is the development of the fireworks so impressive?’ He couldn’t figure it out. But then, thinking about His Majesty’s brilliance in applying one technology in other fields, his eyes suddenly lit up. ’Maybe His Majesty has thought of a better application for the firework than just using it as a communication device.’ He stared at Vijay restlessly, looking forward to what His Majesty would do.

Vijay couldn’t wait anymore. "Come, come, let’s go see the prototype! Let’s not waste any more time!" He was like a kid in a candy store.

Vijay was this excited not only because of the so-called firework the four guys had developed, which might as well be a missile or a rocket but also because he was generally enthusiastic about propulsion devices like rocket technology, both in this life and his last life—clearly demonstrated by how he had become the chief scientist of the Mars Mission in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Getting to an open plain with a small hill at the edge, Vijay finally saw the rocket on a platform standing upright and pointed at the sky.

In two or three steps, he was in front of it. As he looked up, he was taken aback to realize the thing looked pretty tall even by itself.

"What is its height?" He looked forward with amazement and asked without even looking back.

Rajgopal Varma, the designer of the fireworks, came forward and responded, "It’s 1.8 meters, Your Majesty—approximately 5.9 feet."

"Hmm. What about its weight?"

"17 kilograms, Your Majesty."

The whole body of the rocket was painted black, so he tapped it a few times with his fingers to see what the casing was made of.

"Krr... Krr!"

’What sort of a wood is this?’ Vijay was taken aback. He stroked his chin in contemplation, and then, considering the projected specifications, he got an idea.

"Is this a bamboo casing?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. In order to reduce the weight as well as maintain structural integrity, we used a strong bamboo casing bound with the lightest-weight steel rings, woven with iron threads in a zigzag manner to maximize strength while reducing the material used."

"Basically, it’s a steel rope, Your Majesty. We were able to shave off a couple of Hundred grammes of weight by using this method."

Vijay immediately slid his finger across the casing, and sure enough, he felt several bumps along the way. ’This will affect the aerodynamics a little,’ he instinctively realized. But then, looking at the small size of the rocket and its goal of reaching a kilometre, the speeds would not even reach subsonic. He was worrying too much.

"It’s a good balance."

"What about the propellant?"

Bala Gangadhar immediately became silent, and Manoj Reddy came forward and took out the paper cartridge he had in his pocket, ready for demonstration.

"It’s a dense gunpowder mixture, Your Majesty, where saltpetre contains 75% of its contents as an oxidizer, charcoal contains 15% as a fuel—this charcoal has the highest calorific value to give an efficient and high-energy burn—and finally, sulfur is used as a binder and combustion catalyst for the remaining 10%."

Vijay poured a little gunpowder onto his hands and rubbed it between his fingers like he was checking the fineness of a wheat flour that had just been through the mill.

"Walk me through these stages. How long does this... um... firework operate, and how long do these stages last?"

Hey Ram came forward. "From its ignition, it will remain operational for 30 seconds, Your Majesty."

"The first stage burn takes 12 seconds, the second stage burn takes 10 seconds, and the final stage burn takes 8 seconds. It produces a total thrust of 150 Kanada, propelling it to a height of an estimated 1,050 meters, or 1.05 kilometres."

Vijay constantly circled the rocket, listening to all the details and analyzing all the specifications in his mind.

"Alright, I have heard enough. Let’s test it out for real, shall we?" Vijay said as he looked at Rajgopal Varma with a smile, knowing that at least nominally, he was the leader of this research project.

Rajgopal Varma did not hesitate and immediately ordered his assistants to do all the safety checks and prepare the fireworks for launch.

"Please, let’s get to a safe distance, Your Majesty."

Vijay agreed and slowly walked toward the end of the plain. On the way, he looked at Bala Gangadhar, the person responsible for aerodynamics, curiously.

"Bala Gangadhar, is it? How did you calculate the thrust for the firework?"

"Uh!!!" "He’s talking to me!" Bala Gangadhar was taken aback—he was only 23 years old, fresh out of university. He had never met even a minister, not to mention directly meeting His Majesty. Fortunately for him, His Majesty did not ask him any awkward questions.

"It was using Kanada’s second law of motion, Your Majesty."

"F = M a. Force, that is, thrust in Kandahar’s equation, is equal to the mass flow rate of expelled gases in kg per second multiplied by exhaust velocity in meters per second."

"And how did you further calculate the exhaust velocity?"

"Um... At first, I did an approximation using the theoretical data, Your Majesty. That is, exhaust velocity is equal to the square root of two multiplied by the pressure generated by combustion, multiplied by the volume of gas produced, the whole divided by the density of the exhaust gas."

"After trial and error, the values were brought to observed values, after which they were applied to the prototype."

"For the current dense gunpowder, I was able to find out that the estimated exhaust velocity is roughly 850 meters per second."

"And since I was able to calculate the exhaust velocity, I was also able to calculate the specific impulse, where it is nothing but exhaust velocity divided by the acceleration due to gravity, which is 9.81 meters per second squared."

"So, I got the specific impulse as 86.65 seconds."

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.

To be continued...