People once saw lightning as divine punishment, a destructive force that nothing could stop. Over time, we found ways to protect ourselves. Lightning rods are placed atop buildings to attract and conduct away any lightning strikes purposefully. But why stop there? While destructive, lightning could be a natural source of energy.
What if we could trigger them and capture their energy? From once fearing lightning, humanity might be on the verge of controlling it. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) just started their endeavor to make this a reality, and already demonstrated part of it with the lightning-triggering drone.
Challenging the skies
Lightning hasn’t changed. We started seeing it as just another natural phenomenon, but as destructive as ever. Despite how effective lightning rods are, they aren’t infallible. Even so, it’s impossible to cover all areas, hence wildfire ignitions and similar incidents caused by lightning. NTT has set its goal of solving this in the most direct way possible.
Not only are they redirecting lightning, but they are deliberately triggering and guiding it. The research has been ongoing for years and has had a series of field tests near Hamada City in Japan from December 2024 to January 2025. Once thunderclouds appear, they have a drone ready 300 meters in the air. This drone is built on two technologies. The first is a lightning-triggering drone that attracts the strike with a conductive wire and electric field fluctuation.
Its second technology, lightning resistance, allows the drone to remain in the air by ensuring the device doesn’t malfunction. In some artificial lightning tests, it withstood up to 150 kA, five times compared to an average lightning strike.
Still early
A single drone experiment is far from a complete system. Still, what NTT demonstrated has huge potential ramifications. It once again proved that lightning is not only a mystical force that cannot be stopped, but something we can potentially wield to benefit from.
Obviously, these drones draw lightning away, but NTT envisions something more for the future, following where bad weather is forecasted to guide lightning to safe areas, improving precision, and potentially storing and utilizing the energy.
YouTube:【NTT】Protects cities from lightning strikes with lightning-proof drones | NTT Official Channel (2023)
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Photo credit: The feature image is symbolic and has been taken by Artem Makarov. The images in the body of the article are owned by NTT and were provided as part of a press release.
Source: NTT press release
