A lightning rocket is a
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entire ...
that unravels a
conductor
Conductor or conduction may refer to:
Music
* Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra.
* ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas
* Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
, such as a fine
copper wire, as it ascends, to conduct
lightning charges to the ground. Lightning strikes derived from this process are called "triggered lightning."
Design
A conducting
lightning rod is grounded and positioned alongside the launch tube in communication with the conductive path to thereby control the time and location of a lightning strike from the thundercloud.
The conductor trailed by the rocket can be either a physical wire, or column of ionized gas produced by the engine. A lightning rocket using solid propellant may have cesium salts added, which produces a conductive path when the exhaust gases are discharged from the rocket. In a liquid propellant rocket a solution of calcium chloride is used to form the conductive path.
The system consists of a specially designed launch pad with lightning rods and conductors attached.
The launch pad is either controlled wirelessly or via pneumatic line to the control station to prevent the discharge traveling to the control equipment. The fine copper wire (more recently reinforced with kevlar) is attached to the ground and plays out from the rocket as it ascends. The initial strike follows this wire and is as a result unusually straight. As the wire is vaporized by the initial strike, subsequent strikes are more angular in nature and follow the ionization trail of the initial strike. Rockets of this type are used for both lightning research and lightning control.
Betts system
The Betts ''lightning rocket'', patented by Robert E. Betts in 2003, consists of a
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entire ...
launcher that is in communication with a detection device that measures the presence of
electrostatic and
ionic change in close proximity to the rocket launcher that also fires the rocket.
[{{cite web , title=US6597559B2 Lightning rocket , url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US6597559 , website=Google , access-date=13 July 2021] This system is designed to control the
time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
and the
location of a
lightning strike. As the rocket flies to the thundercloud this liquid is expelled aft forming a column in the air of particles that are more electrically conductive than the surrounding air. In a similar fashion to the system employing a solid propellant as the conductive producer this conductive path conducts a lightning strike to ground to thereby control the time and location of a lightning strike from the thundercloud.
References
External links
July 25, 2002, triggered lightning videoTransient Response of a Tall Object to Lightning
Lightning