Faraday-Caged Drone Induces And Guides Lightning In Unprecedented Experiment

For the first time in history, Japanese researchers successfully used a lightning-resistant drone during a thunderstorm to trigger and direct natural lightning strikes. The team is now exploring ways to harness this technology to capture and store lightning energy.

The Immense Energy Potential of Lightning

As expected, each lightning bolt carries a significant amount of energy. According to estimates from Real Clear Science, a single bolt can contain up to one billion joules — roughly 278 kWh, enough to charge a Hyundai Ioniq 6 nearly six times. Nature delivers approximately 1.4 billion lightning strikes per year, or 44 every second, releasing around 383.6 TWh of energy.”In 2023, global lightning strikes contributed energy equivalent to about 1.5% of the world’s electricity consumption — a considerable resource, if we could capture it.

“Experts strongly discourage people from attempting to handle lightning on their own. According to the UK’s Met Office, a typical lightning bolt is as wide as a thumb, travels between 3 and 5 kilometers, and heats the surrounding air to temperatures five times hotter than the surface of the sun. It’s estimated that about 240,000 people are struck by lightning each year — while 90% survive, it’s certainly not a pleasant experience. Beyond the human toll, lightning-related property damage in the U.S. alone exceeds one billion dollars annually in insurance costs.

Japan’s Unique Vulnerability and NTT’s Motivation

In Japan, this figure ranges between US$700 million and US$1.5 billion per year. Telecom giant NTT, which has much of its infrastructure exposed to this kind of risk, has been researching alternatives to prevent lightning-related damage, especially in areas where installing conventional lightning rods is difficult.

NTT’s Innovative Multicopter Drone Solution

NTT’s proposed solution is innovative: a multicopter drone that stands out due to its unique design and technical features:

• A metallic Faraday cage that redirects electrical current around the drone, reducing magnetic field effects;
• A conductive wire over 300 meters (984 feet) long, connected to a high-voltage switch;
• Small lightning rods at the top of the drone, designed to attract and direct lightning strikes through the structure and down the grounding wire.

During the experiment, conducted in December, the researchers waited for an appropriate thunderstorm. When sensors detected that a discharge was imminent, the drone was launched and hovered at an altitude of 300 meters. Initially switched off, the ground wire allowed a significant charge differential to build between the drone and the wire, creating a strong electric field.

The researchers activated the grounding wire, allowing the charge to follow an easy path to the ground. This generated a voltage of over 2,000 volts, disrupting the electric field around the drone and triggering a direct lightning strike from the clouds. The bolt partially damaged the Faraday cage but did not compromise the drone’s stability. Witnesses reported blue flashes and popping sounds from the ground-based winch system.

The First Drone to Induce and Guide Lightning

According to the NTT team, this was “the first time a drone has successfully induced and guided lightning using electric field fluctuations.” The current goal is to develop this flying lightning rod into a practical tool for protecting vulnerable infrastructure such as wind turbines and open-air stadiums, where traditional lightning rods are difficult to implement.

Exploring Lightning as a Clean Energy Source

Beyond its protective function, the researchers also aim to study ways to store lightning energy. According to an official statement, the goal is to develop methods to capture and utilize the energy released by these induced strikes.

However, the challenge is immense. A lightning bolt unleashes a staggering amount of energy in a fraction of a second — far more than even the fastest EV chargers can handle. Attempting to store this energy directly in lithium-ion batteries would be disastrous (and highly explosive). One alternative might be using extremely powerful supercapacitors, but these are still far too bulky and heavy for mobile applications.

“Current electrical grid designers did not build the systems to handle such extreme energy spikes. A single bolt can exceed 100 million volts and 30,000 amps — enough to destroy transformers and potentially cause massive fires (as seen in various online videos).

Therefore, if NTT truly wants to “bottle” lightning energy, it will need to develop a massive buffering system capable of absorbing the energy spike and then releasing it gradually and safely.

Despite the challenges, the drone’s success in guiding lightning is, by itself, a remarkable innovation with great potential to protect critical infrastructure. A bold and promising technology!

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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