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China Is Splashing $168 Million To Make It Rain (fortune.com)

Posted by msmash on from the playing-god dept.

China, the world's second largest economy, is pouring 1.5 billion yuan ($168 million) into a program aimed at making it rain in its usually arid northwestern region. From a report: No stranger to using technologies like cloud seeding to influence and even control weather patterns, China's top economic planners recently gave the go ahead for what will be one of the country's largest weather-modification projects, reports the South China Morning Post. According to the Post, a feasibility study by the country's meteorological agency concluded that the three-year program could see a rise in precipitation over an area of 960,000 sq km, or as much as 10% of the country's landmass. The multi-million dollar budget allocated by the National Development and Reform Commission will reportedly cover the cost for four new aircraft and updates to eight existing planes, nearly 900 rocket launch systems and over 1,800 digital control devices.

5 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. That's great.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Except what about the countries where that rain would otherwise have landed? Not such a problem if it would have landed over sea, but this will be in the middle of the continent. Not a very nice neighbour to have.

    1. Re:That's great.. by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not a very nice neighbour to have.

      With the factory expansions and environmental policies, I think that ship sailed years ago.

  2. Never worked before, will never work now by apoc.famine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You can't change the amount of water in the sky. There are always enough nucleation sites for raindrops, especially in polluted China. And $168m isn't going to change global weather patterns.
     
    Glad to see that China is becoming more like the US. Big contractors selling snake-oil to the government.

    --
    Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  3. Re: Nefarious uses? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Unless the polls were hacked, then the election wasn't hacked.

    If somebody obtains dirt on a political party through illicit means, and that dirt swayed public opinion, then that might be unfair, but it doesn't mean the election was less legitimate. People can vote any way they choose for any reason.

    The DNC was hacked; not the election.

  4. Re:Great alternative to minefields by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, because if WWIII ever happens, everyone will follow all the existing international treaties. They should just sign a treaty agreeing to never engage in WWIII at all.