Japan’s NTT Company is celebrating having one among its drones struck by lightning — as a result of that is precisely what it hoped for, within the first profitable demonstration of drone-based lightning triggering and steerage.
“Lightning strikes are some of the damaging pure phenomena affecting human society. Whereas the NTT Group has carried out numerous lightning safety measures for vital infrastructure — together with telecommunications services — lightning-related harm stays a persistent concern,” the corporate explains. “At NTT, we’re exploring using quickly advancing drone know-how to create a brand new method: ‘drone-triggered lightning.’ This technique includes flying drones into optimum positions beneath thunderclouds to actively set off lightning strikes, after which guiding the discharge safely away from weak areas.”
A caged drone, carrying a wire behind it, has been used to set off lightning for the primary time — and lived to inform the story. (📷: NTT Company)
Whereas having your treasured drone struck by lightning appears like a horrible factor to occur, NTT’s drones are constructed for the aim: a quadcopter is put in inside a lightning safety cage and flown in direction of the clouds whereas trailing a conductive wire. The push of a swap connects the wire to floor — and, in a December 2024 take a look at in Hamada Metropolis, triggered a lightning strike.
“Simply earlier than the lightning strike, it was confirmed {that a} voltage of over 2,000 volts had developed between the wire and the bottom,” NTT says of the experiment. “This speedy enhance in native electrical subject power triggered a lightning strike directed on the drone. This marks the primary profitable case on the earth of triggering lightning utilizing a drone. In the mean time of the strike, a loud cracking sound was heard, a flash was noticed on the winch, and partial melting occurred within the drone’s lightning safety cage. Nevertheless, the drone outfitted with the protecting cage continued to fly stably even after the lightning strike.”
The corporate envisions a future the place lighting strikes could be triggered to guard buildings and harvest power for later use. (📷: NTT Company)
Exams revealed that the custom-designed safety cage, suitable with industrial off-the-shelf drones, can present safety for strikes of as much as 150kA — some 5 occasions higher than pure lightning strikes. The flexibility to set off a strike, in the meantime, gives a strategy to drain the cost earlier than it builds up and strikes buildings, bushes, or anything that may be broken — and NTT is engaged on taking the power and harvesting it for later use, suggesting that the ability of lightning could possibly be used to cost batteries together with these utilized in electrical autos.
The corporate’s full write-up is accessible on the NTT web site.
