A NOVEL LASER SYSTEM FOR FORECASTING AND MITIGATING LIGHTNING STRIKES

A NOVEL SCHEME FOR PROVIDING A PREFERENTIAL PATH THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE ALONG WHICH LIGHTNING WILL TRAVEL IS PROPOSED. THE WORK WILL THEORETICALLY ASSESS THE FEASIBILITY OF USING A HIGH ENERGY PULSED LASER OPERATING IN THE ULTRAVIOLET (AT A WAVELENGTH NEVER BEFORE USED) TO MULTIPHOTON IONIZE TRACE ATMOSPHERIC CONSTITUENTS TO ACTUALLY TRIGGER LIGHTNING STRIKES DOWN THE LASER IONIZED PATH. THIS DEVICE COULD BE USED TO FORECAST THE PROBABILITY OF LIGHTNING STRIKES DURING VEHICLE LAUNCH AND PERHAPS EVEN TO MITIGATE THAT PROBABILITY BY HARMLESSLY AND REPETITIVELY DISCHARGING THE ATMOSPHERE AND THEREBY PROTECTING THE LAUNCHVEHICLE. THE PROPOSED PHASE I RESEARCH WILL INVOLVE TWO DISTINCT PARTS. FIRST, RESEARCH, DESIGN, AND SPECIFICATION OF A LABORATORY SYSTEM WHICH MIGHT BE USED IN A PHASE II EFFORT TO EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFY THE FEASIBILITY OF A LASER LIGHTNING ROD. SECOND, AN EXTENSION OF THE OPHIR LASER-ATMOSPHERE MODEL TO SIMULATE THE EXPERIMENTS WHICH MIGHT BE CARRIED OUT USING PHASE II.