Rainmakers: The drones used to seed clouds

Augustus Doricko, the founder and CEO of Rainmaker, is quick to answer any questions on the consequences of how his company uses the silver iodide compound. It's clear he's been asked about chemical safety many times.

He says Rainmaker releases this form of silver at 20 grams per flight, distributed across thousands of square kilometres. "The resultant increase in concentration on the ground is in the parts per quadrillion, way below the threshold laid out by the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] on what is allowable."

Rainmaker's flights use drones to soar into clouds because without clouds, "we can't do anything," he says, pointing to one of the key limits of cloud-seeding processes. Cloud-seeding sessions have to wait for clouds to form to try to coax them into precipitation.