University of North Carolina at Charlotte

9201 University City Blvd

Charlotte, NC, 28262

Dear Dr. Breuer,

I have one question for you that I will elaborate on in this paper: can the ability to
harvest lightning be useful for space exploration in the future?

I recently read your report on the inefficiency of lightning as a power source,

which did an excellent job of explaining the pitfalls of attempting to harness storm
energy. I understand that lightning on Earth doesnt come close to producing the
total energy that its population requires, however, while doing research on the
topic, I came across several other possibilities for practical uses of lightning. While
some seemed to be poorly thought out, I was intrigued by the idea of harnessing
another planets lightning.

Powering Exploration
To be clear, Im not suggesting that the energy would somehow be transported to
Earth as the vast distances of space are enough to make this all but impossible.
Instead, I was curious about the implications that such a technology could have for
astronauts in the future. I wondered if a planet, like Saturn for instance, could
produce enough power in a practical way to provide energy for local (in the
context of Saturns moons) explorations.

Meeting the energy needs of astronauts completely out of Earths orbit is a

challenge. For any power intensive projects, such as mining, construction, or
housing for the scientists, it may be difficult to find a reliable of source of energy
for off-world needs. Astronauts cannot expect the luxury of fossil fuels on other
worlds, or nuclear power plants, or even a way to harness wind or hydraulic
energy. Each moon and planet that they explore will have totally different
attributes so it wouldnt make sense to plan their power needs off of the methods
that we use on Earth. ASure a planet could have the equivalent of fossil fuels or
plutonium, but how would the astronauts mine for that on the industrial scale?
Energy based on fluids is clearly out would be unlikely in this case since Earth
seems to be the only planet in our system with abundant liquid water and an
atmosphere hospitable to life.

Of course, there is solar power. The rovers that we put on Mars and the satellites
that we have launched beyond Earths orbit are solar. It is for this reason that I
wouldnt be interested in whether lightning could be harnessed from Venus--which
probably has a large supply of energy in its atmosphere--being that it is so close to
the Sun.

Saturn
The reason that I am particularly interesting in Saturn is that it is far enough away
from the Sun that the use of solar energy might begin to be a problem. The Sun is
enormously powerful, but from as far back as Saturn it probably doesnt look like
much more than an exceptionally bright star. From such a large distance away
from the Sun, future explores might find that the ability to harness another readily
available energy resource to be a great advantage.

Once developed, this sort of technology could find use beyond Saturn of course.
The scale of space and time defy comprehension and there is no reason to assume
that humans will never leave this solar system. Different planets and moons are
bound to have exotic features, one such feature being a functionally active
atmosphere. Once such a technology were developed, it would likely end up being
useful in more ways that we initially expect.

The Actual Device

I mentioned earlier that I have no illusions that this power would somehow be
transported back to Earth for general use, and I should also mention that Im not
expecting astronauts to land on a gas giant like Saturn. The technology that I am
writing about would have to be some sort of device that skimmed charge off of the
outer atmosphere from a probe or an equivalent device that could send that energy
to a battery station in orbit. If the lightning on other planets is similar to what it is
on Earth, most of the electricity gets discharged into the atmosphere anyway.

Conclusion
I dont want to appear daft to the other problems with collecting lightning that
would still certainly apply here, I just believe enough in the ingenuity of the human
race to think that such challenges could be surmounted if we were motivated and
this was indeed a practical idea. For this reason, Dr. Breuer, I am interested to
simply hear your opinion on whether or not we should begin developing lightning-
harvesting technology on Earth for the purpose of putting it aboard future
spacecraft to be used by astronauts.

Sincerely,
Samuel Reddick