We all know that the first flying machine was invented and successfully flew it in air, by Wright Brothers, in 1903; they finally succeeded in flying the powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight.
Apart from this, an Indian scholar named Shivkar Bapuji Talpade have constructed and flown an unmanned airplane in 1895, which was eight years before Wright Brothers airplane which was flew into the air to a height of 1500 feet. This was constructed under the guidance of Pandit Subbaraya Shastri.
About Shivkar Bapuji Talpade:
Shivkar Bapuji Talpade was born in 1864 in Bombay. He completed his school education in Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy school of art. During this time, he came to know about ancient Indian aeronautics through his teacher Chiranjilal Varma, who led Talpade to read Swami Dayanand Saraswathi’s, works related to ancient aeronautics.
Some sources also suggests that his works were based on the work done by Maharshi Bharadwaja in Rigveda. Inspired by all these texts Talpade decided to construct the Vedic Vimana described in Vedas.
Marutsakha:
Talpade’s airplane was named Marutsakha, which means “the friend of Wind”. Marutsakha is inspired from the ancient flying machine “Vimana”, in Hindu Mythology.
Marutsakha, sustained for a few minutes in air. Mahadeva Govinda Ranade and H.H Sayaji Rao Gaekward had the good fortune to see the unmanned air craft take off.
It flew to a height of 1500 feet and then fall back to earth.
This was witnessed by more than three thousand people including Britishers at Chowpathy Beach in 1895.
He was threatened by Britishers for flying an unmanned plane in public.
Propulsion of the Flying Machine:
The propulsion of the machine is based on Mercury and Sunlight which was an advanced vedic mercury ion plasma imploding and expanding vortex noiseless flying machine which could move in all directions. Accelerated, pressurized mercury when spun and thus heated gives out latent energy. Infact Mercury was the fuel of many ancient Vimanas.
Working and construction:
The method of propulsion was ‘Anti Gravitational’ which is based upon the unknown power, ‘a centrifugal force strong enough to counter act all gravitational pull’.
Inside the circular air frame, place the mercury engine with its solar mercury boiler at the aircraft center. By means of the power latent in the heated mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in a most marvelous manner.
Four strong containers of mercury must be built into the interior structure. When these have been heated up by fire through solar or other sources, the vimana develops a thunder power through the mercury.
· One of the western scholars of Indology, Stephen-Knapp, has tried to explain what Talpade did.
· According to Knapp, Vaimanika Shastra describes in detail the construction of what is called the “Mercury Vortex Engine”.
· The Indologist William Clarendon who has written down a detailed description of mercury vortex engine quotes that, ‘a model reconstruction of marutskha was exhibited at an exhibition on aviation at Vile Parle, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has preserved documents relating to the experiment.
Why is it not known:
The notion constitutes ‘unmanned’ airplane varies from one observer to the next. The best available definition of unmanned aircraft is ‘an aircraft that is operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft.
‘Operation’ must be seen to mean, the ability not just to propel something in flight but to guide it as well.
Talpade’s method of propulsion reportedly was based on vedic concepts involving the release of energy from mercury and sunlight.
This process was never fully documented or successfully reproduced.
Another important part of any scientific discovery is that others are able to duplicate the conditions of the test and obtain the same results.
There were some other reasons too:
a. Mercury when reacted releases harmful gases.
b. Where mercury itself being the fuel, it is not available that abundantly in nature.
c. The problem arose when some of the gases condensed and leaked onto the ground.
d. Mercury is also a neurotoxin and is thought to be one of the most dangerous metals and exposure to it can cause various health problems.
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