Dextrose Dreams

At an age when most kids would be happy just avoiding homework, sneaking motorbike rides or discovering beer, Reddy and Prasad are busy setting up the maiden flight of their solid-fuel rocket, the Ebender named after their principal. In the process, they8217;ve realised a three-year-old dream, gained the attention and respect of the ISRO, and become local heroes.

8220;When I was small, I used to take apart all my toys and put them back together,8221; says Prasad. 8220;I even took apart our TV once, when I was in Class 5.8221; Reddy, meanwhile, is the kind that perks up at words like 8216;algorithms8217;. Little surprise then that they, friends since Class 2, were inspired enough by an ISRO satellite launch to decide to build their own rocket.

And so began a secret project in Prasad8217;s hostel room. With information from Canadian Richard Nakka8217;s amateur rocketry website, the two worked on a potassium nitrate and dextrose-powered rocket. Theoretically, it8217;s just a fuel-packed metal tube with an igniter, functioning on the simple thrust principle. But actual construction is far more complicated.

Not only do parts8212;nose-cones, nozzles, tail fins, recovery systems, altimeter, radio beacon8212;have to be locally fabricated, assembled or improvised, putting it all together and actually making a functional rocket involves a thorough understanding of aerodynamics, chemistry, electronics and mathematics. Then there8217;s the issue of time and funds. 8220;We used our pocket money to buy parts, and luckily our parents always encouraged us,8217; says Reddy.

What finally got the project pointing skyward, though, was a simple school procedure. 8220;We conduct surprise checks on students8217; bags for banned items like mobile phones,8221; laughs Cotton8217;s student counsellor Indra Sudarshan, 8220;We found metal parts, wires, chemicals and other strange things in their bags. They spilled the whole story to me and I told the principal. He then took it to another level.8221;

Where some principals might have brought out the ol8217; bamboo, or barked at them to concentrate on their studies, Dr Ebenezer, in his own words, a 8216;silent achiever who dreams big8217;, decided otherwise.

8220;I was really surprised,8221; says the former government official. 8220;But I knew that this was big.8221; So he flew to Delhi to meet the Director General of Civil Aviation, spoke to the Bangalore aviation authorities, police and fire brigade, and got the boys permission to launch their rocket.And once the press got wind of it, Reddy and Prasad8217;s little project went national.

A team of four scientists from the ISRO arrived for inspection, and came away impressed8212;the plans were expanded until the rocket became a 10-footer with a target altitude of four km. And at Thumba, the 8216;rocket-boys8217; will get a live demo of a rocket launch; after a trial run with a smaller one, Ebender will take to the skies at an as yet undecided launch date, perhaps by the end of the month.

Reddy and Prasad, meanwhile, are busy juggling the media attention with the launch schedule. They also have a lecture date at a school in Dubai. In Bangalore, some members of Bishop Cotton8217;s Inventors Club are on gadget overdrive8212;one Class 5 boy is even working on a lemon-powered car.

8220;We hope the rocket helps us get into university,8221; say the teenagers, who want to study Information Systems Management and Aerospace Engineering, respectively. And after that, a career in NASA? 8220;Who can say?8221; they shrug modestly. Right, but take your CVs along on the ISRO trip .You never know.