During the storms, the launch zone was hit by lightning four times.
But in 2021, scientists in north-eastern Switzerland were experimenting with a different punch in of lightning tower.
Evil voice:Giant freakin' laser beams.
A 3D reconstruction of the lightning strike on July 24, 2021.
(Yes, lightning does strike twice… and sometimes more than that.)
One particular strike, on July 24, 2021, was captured in great detail.
The facility also had a VHF interferometer, which can measure the electromagnetic wave activity around the site.
It was also possible to measure the X-rays for several of the laser-guided strikes.
It doesn’t always travel from a cloud to the ground, either.
Often, lightning will also travel upward.
These attempts were unsuccessful, so why did the Santis mountain campaign go so well?
Further laser-guided lightning campaigns will be necessary to fully understand how this giant frickin' laser did the job.
That’s a good thing.
Lasers, though, have their own issues.
Which means NASA’s next moon mission might not have to be so afraid of that nasty Florida weather.
