Researchers in Japan create a drone that could harness lightning strikes for clean energy.
Concept image generated with Midjourney
In a world-first experiment, Japanese researchers armed a drone with a protective Faraday cage and sent it soaring into a raging thunderstorm, intentionally drawing a bolt of lightning.
Created by Japanese telco NTT, the prototype is specifically designed to capture bolts.
Instead of frying the drone, the electricity traveled safely through its frame and down a long tether to the ground, like a high-voltage lifeline.
The faraday cage directs the lightning strikes around the propellers.
This isn’t just a wild science stunt. The breakthrough could one day help protect wide-open spaces and massive venues where traditional lightning rods just don’t cut it.
A potential future iteration of the design would run multiple drones in a swarm configuration, shepherding lightning down to the ground in several stages, then capturing the energy
Even more exciting? Scientists are now dreaming about ways to actually capture and store the massive energy unleashed by lightning — a feat long thought impossible.
A single bolt of lightning has approximately 5 gigajoules of energy in it, or the equivalent of 1388 kilowatt hours of electricity. With that amount of energy, you could charge a modern EV nearly 6 times over. That equates to about 38 gallons (172 liters) of gasoline.
While this technology is a ways off, it’s a fascinating development.
The future of storm power might just start with a drone and a strike of lightning from above.
The post Can We Capture Lightning Strikes For Energy? Japanese Scientists Say Yes appeared first on Moss and Fog.