First Successful Lightning Triggering and Guiding Using a Drone

Wow, getting a drone to survive the massive electromagnetic fields (and plasma!) around lightning strikes is quite an accomplishment. Prior art in the area used rockets trailing a similar light wire to trigger lightning - used by Dr Uman&#x27;s team at University of Florida (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ufdc.ufl.edu&#x2F;UFE0047331&#x2F;00001" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ufdc.ufl.edu&#x2F;UFE0047331&#x2F;00001</a>).

This is really cool, but I&#x27;m super skeptical of their proposed use case for protecting cities.<p>Aren&#x27;t lightning conditions often preceded by strong winds and poor weather conditions? Not a great time to be flying drones. And the approach seems more complicated than simply installing lightning rods.<p>I&#x27;d sooner envision people using the technique to get a kick out of throwing lightning around like they&#x27;re Zeus.

&gt; flying drones into optimal positions beneath thunderclouds to actively trigger lightning strikes, and then guiding the discharge safely away from vulnerable areas<p>From a military standpoint, I wonder what it would take to discharge <i>into</i> a vulnerable area...

&gt; Traditionally, lightning protection has relied heavily on lightning rods. However, their protective range is limited, and in some cases—such as wind turbines or outdoor event venues—it may not be feasible to install them. At NTT, we are exploring the use of rapidly advancing drone technology to create a new approach: &quot;drone-triggered lightning&quot;2.<p>I can&#x27;t believe that&#x27;s a practical solution. Surely just installing more lighting road is simpler et more effective. They just want to do something cool and try to justify it sideways.

This [1] article claims that the electricity from 115 strikes could power the entire US grid for a year, but it&#x27;s surely napkin math. Awesome tech, though!<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.treehugger.com&#x2F;how-much-energy-is-in-lightning-8733935" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.treehugger.com&#x2F;how-much-energy-is-in-lightning-8...</a>

That&#x27;s a freefly Alta X in the photos which is a $20k drone commonly used in cinematography.

Interesting seeing this coming from Japan. There is(was?) this Japanese artist collective called The Play who, every year, for 10 years straight, built a 20 meter wooden pyramid on top of a mountain during the stormy season to try to catch lightning. The tower never got hit.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nmao.go.jp&#x2F;archive&#x2F;en&#x2F;exhibition&#x2F;2016&#x2F;play.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nmao.go.jp&#x2F;archive&#x2F;en&#x2F;exhibition&#x2F;2016&#x2F;play.html</a>

&gt; Future efforts will focus on developing technologies for capturing and storing lightning energy for potential use (Figure 7).<p>According to a quick search, a typical lightning strike carries about 1-5 billion joules of energy, equivalent to roughly 250-1500kWh; enough energy to power a typical home for 10-60 days. But larger bolts of lightning can have up to 8000kWh, almost a year&#x27;s supply of electricity for a home in a single bolt!

I wonder if we managed to harness and store this electricity from the lightning into some kind of large battery. If a drone can successfully fly and connect with the lighting, this seems like a possibility.<p>Edit: I read past the line where they mentioned this was in the plans.

We&#x27;ve come a long way from Benjamin Franklin flying a kite into lightning. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kite_experiment" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kite_experiment</a>

That is impressive, specially the drone surviving! I expect something along the lines of disposable drones, which would like still be cost effective at saving 100-200b yen a year! It’ll be fascinating seeing this deployed!

The lightning &quot;strike&quot; mentioned in the article was probably not a direct hit. Nothing can really survive &gt;30kA of current. I recall concerns from Boeing engineers when they switched to carbon fiber fuselages, that a strike would be far more serious than before, with Aluminum fuselages.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.weather.gov&#x2F;safety&#x2F;lightning-power" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.weather.gov&#x2F;safety&#x2F;lightning-power</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;aviation.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;35493&#x2F;are-carbon-fiber-composite-aircraft-at-greater-risk-from-lightning" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;aviation.stackexchange.com&#x2F;questions&#x2F;35493&#x2F;are-carbo...</a>

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;D6_ZC6BywXs" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;D6_ZC6BywXs</a><p>“Remember who the real enemy is!”

Sounds totally unnecessary, unless they were trying to charge Mechagodzilla.

So.. how long do we have before situational personal lightning bolt is a thing?

Whosoever is worthy of this drone shall wield the power of Thor.

I’m a bit disappointed that they lost an incredible opportunity to generate interest and PR by failing to capture this on video.

Next step, use the energy?

I&#x27;m sorry but Figure 1 Lightning Protection Drone....all I see when I look at that is a abomination of antenna....like 5 or 6 roof antennas crammed into a single point in space time.<p>Not that it don&#x27;t look super cook in its own way. But I just reminds me of antennas

Protecting cities from lightning damage? This is a weapon and you all know it.