Comment by TheBigRoomXXL
15 hours ago
> 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: "drone-triggered lightning"2.
I can't believe that'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.
The expensive bit isn't the lightning rod itself, but the conductive path all the way to ground that has to handle 10^5 amps.
This probably has more value as a bizarre form of weapon than anything else.
Load up a bunch of B-52 bombers with giant Van de Graaff generators to fly over the target and then send the drone down.
I'd be shocked if that worked.
Codename Zeus.